Tag: Ruth Carter

• The Undeniable Tour Update – So Much To Do, So Little Time!

  

  Holy crap! The Undeniable Tour is less than two weeks away! I feel like all the big pieces of this trip have been taken care of (speaking gigs, airline tickets, rental car, lodging, dog sitter, etc.) and now I feel like I am a little overwhelmed with all the little details that go into planning such a big trip. I want to make the most of this adventure both for my audience and for myself (professionally and personally), so I am trying to figure out how many people and what awesome things I can see and do between my speaking engagements.

  I will admit I am a bit neurotic and I generally thrive when my life has structure, so now I am trying to plan out what I will be doing each day and determine how many friends I will be able to see during my down time. My prediction is I will have a full itinerary of meetings and fun.

  I am also trying to make sure that everything is shipshape on the home front before I leave town. I found an amazing pair of Canadian snowbirds to be my house and dog sitters, and because I am an over-prepared dork, I am creating a manual for them information about taking care of my home, caring for my dog, and fun things to do in my city. One of the benefits of staying with locals is you get to learn about all the awesome things in a city that a typical tourist would not know about. I am treating my house sitters like they are my guests and I want to make the most of their experience.

  Even though I am a minimalist, I decided I wanted a memento from The Undeniable Tour, so I bought a wooden arrow at the craft store, painted it metallic green, and I am going to ask many of the people I meet with during this trip to sign it. One of the take away messages of The Undeniable Tour is, “Keep moving forward.” This arrow will be a physical embodiment of that message and the people I will asked to sign it are movers and shakers in the legal and social media worlds who exemplify it in their work.

  On top of all this, I am trying to get through as much open client work as I can before I leave town so that there is not much that I have to do for them while I am on the road. I will be checking my emails and messages, and I can always find a coffee shop or co-working space if I need to work on a project for a client, but I prefer to “clear the decks” as much as possible when I am going to be out of the office for more than a few days.

  If you are interested in connecting with me while I am traveling please follow me on Twitter. If you have any questions or comments about The Undeniable Tour, please shoot me an email.

  The Undeniable Tour would not be possible without my awesome sponsors!

  

  March 12, 2015

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  Ruth Carter

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  The Undeniable Tour

  Attorney at Work, Green Arrow, lawyer networking, Ruth Carter, The Undeniable Tour Update, Total Networks, travel

• Clothing Line Intellectual Property

  

  Recently I’ve had a few questions about intellectual property related to starting the clothing line or T-shirt business. These people asked me how they can protect their work. Is it trademark? Is it copyright? The answer is, it’s probably both!

  A trademark is anything you put on your goods or services to differentiate them from the competition. And a business can have several trademarks. They are your company name, brand names, slogans, logos, etc. Likewise, a clothing line can have several trademarks including your company’s name, the name for each collection, slogans, and your logos. The triangle patch with the question mark on it is a trademark for Guess jeans as is the alligator logo for Lacoste brand clothing.

  Before you select the trademarks you want for your clothing line, be sure to check the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database to verify that the trademark you want has not already been claimed by another company in the apparel industry or a related industry. If a trademark has already been registered that company could stop you from entering the marketplace using a trademark that is confusingly similar to theirs. (See the story of The North Face v. The South Butt for an example.)

  Your clothing line may also contain several copyrights. If you design T-shirts, you will have copyright rights in each design. You may also have copyright rights in your logo. You have rights in what you create the moment you create it; you don’t have to register them with the U.S. Copyright Office to obtain your rights (however, you do have to register if you want to sue for copyright infringement.) If your design is simply a short phrase on a shirt, it may not be copyrightable because short phrases are often not original enough to warrant having a copyright. Depending on what your phrase is, if you’re using it as a slogan, it could be a trademark.

  If you outsource the creation of the designs for your clothing or the creation of your marketing materials, make sure you have clear written contracts with these independent contractors to ensure that you own whatever you have hired them to create. Otherwise you may find yourself in a situation where the artist owns the intellectual property rights in what they created, and you merely have a license to use it.

  As you can see, determining what intellectual property you have may be a complicated question. It’s best to consult an intellectual property attorney to assist you in identifying your intellectual property and determine the best strategies to protect it, which may include registering your copyrights and trademarks.

  If you have any questions about copyrights or trademarks, feel free to shoot me an email or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

  March 10, 2015

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  Ruth Carter

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  Intellectual Property

  Arizona trademark attorney, business lawyer, Carter Law Firm, Clothing Line, intellectual property, North Face, Phoenix copyright lawyer, protecting your brand, Ruth Carter, South Butt, start up lawyer, t-shirt design

• The Undeniable Tour Update – First Sponsors Announced

  

  I have been working on The Undeniable Tour since July 2014, shortly after I finished reading Jason Zook’s book Creativity for Sale. It’s hard to believe that it’s happening in only a few weeks!

  I’m happy to announce two of my “Fan” Level Sponsors for the Tour: Total Networks and Attorney at Work. I’ve known both of these companies for a long time and I’m so excited that they were among the first to jump on board to support the tour. Total Networks provides IT services to businesses (including many Arizona law firms) and they are the “only business in Arizona to have achieved the CompTIA Security Trustmark, a respected industry accreditation certifying that the business meets or exceeds the best practices in critical areas such as data protection, personnel security, and access management.” Attorney at Work is a law practice management website that releases new content every weekday by leaders in the legal industry and they have awesome downloadable bonus material. I write a monthly column for them where they encourage me to rant way too much.

  In other tour news, I’m building out my travel schedule. I booked all my lodging except for one night – there aren’t any hostels at the California/Oregon border and there aren’t that many people on couchsurfing.com so I may actually have to by a hotel room for one night of this adventure. I finally booked my rental car and I was shocked that the fees were twice as much as the rental itself. Why did they do that? I hope some of the fees are for optional bells and whistles that I can decline. There are quite a few legal and social media movers and shakers on the west coast that I want to see so I’m trying to get as many of them on my calendar as I can and fill the remaining time with random fun adventures and seeing my friends. It’s going to be a busy trip. (I’m working on a post for The Undeniable Ruth comparing what it’s like to stay in a hostel versus a hotel – at least in my limited experience.)

  I need to make a correction from last week’s blog post where I talked about the tour stop I will be doing via webinar for the Washington State Bar Association. We had a miscommunication about the date of my talk so I will not be doing it until the end of May. That got me thinking – I can only bring The Undeniable Tour talk to places in-person if somebody is footing the bill, but I can do a webinar from any place with and internet connection. So if you are interested in having The Undeniable Tour talk presented to your bar association or legal group via webinar once I’m back from my speaking tour, let me know. I won’t charge you as long as you don’t charge your members to attend.

  If you’re interested in connecting with me while I’m traveling please follow me on Twitter. If you have any questions or comments about The Undeniable Tour, please shoot me an email.

  March 5, 2015

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  Ruth Carter

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  The Undeniable Tour

  Attorney at Work, Carter Law Firm, couchsurfing, Creativity for Sale, hostel, Jason Zook, rental car, Ruth Carter, sponsor, sponsorship, The Undeniable Tour, Total Networks, travel plans. The Undeniable Ruth, webinar

• Google Reverses Ban on Porn on Blogger Sites

  

  Last month Google announced an upcoming change in its terms of service that would ban all pornography from Blogger sites. (Blogger is Google’s blogging platform.) This change would have been retroactive and impacted some users who have used Blogger to post sexually explicit material for over 10 years. Users reacted hard and fast, saying that posting pornographic material on their sites is an expression of their identities.

  Within days, Google made a second announcement saying that they won’t ban all porn on Blogger sites but rather they will be more diligent about their existing policy banned “commercial porn,” meaning porn that is posted online for significant commercial gain. If you have a Blogger site and you want to sexually explicit material, you’re required to mark those posts as “adult” so Google can put them behind an “adult content” warning page.

  I found the initial announcement banning porn on Blogger puzzling. Why would Google, a company that serves an international community of amazing creative people, consider such a conservative policy change? I’m a huge advocate for preventing sexual victimization, child pornography, and revenge porn but those are very different issues than the voluntary creation of legal adult content, produced by adults for an adult audience. Blogger is a blogging platform so I assume most people have little or no financial gain from running their sites.

  This is a topic where each person may have a slightly different belief regarding what is art and what is pornography based on personal and cultural differences. In the conservative U.S., a topless woman is considered explicit but in other countries, topless models (men and women) are used in mainstream advertising and anyone can go topless at the beach. Google made the right decision in regards to this by requiring everyone who uses Blogger to mark their material as “adult” and the consumers can decide for themselves what they’ll read and view and what they will block from their children’s access with parental controls.

  Companies like Google that provide services to a worldwide audience have to decide how policies should be written, which appears to be a challenging task. I’m pleased to see in this instance that Google listened to its users and the culture of the internet in general and repealed this ban.

  If you want to talk more about free speech, censorship, and the internet, please connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or send me an email.

  March 2, 2015

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  Ruth Carter

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  Internet law, Legalities of Blogging, Photography & the Law

  Arizona social media attorney, Blogger terms of service, First Amendment, free speech online, parental controls, Phoenix internet lawyer, policy about post porn, Ruth Carter

• The Undeniable Tour Update – Everything’s Coming Together

  

  It’s hard to believe that The Undeniable Tour is less than a month away. At this point I feel like all the pieces are starting to lock into place. I booked my flights and most of my lodging. I’m going to be staying in hostels and couchsurfing for most of my trip. I’m really excited to meet so many new people – law students, lawyers, other social media movers and shakers, and fellow travelers. I’m also looking forward to spending a lot of time near the ocean, which is something I only get to see and pictures since I live in the desert.

  This tour will give me the chance to connect and share ideas with others in the legal industry about what it means to be a lawyer and how we can better use social media to create professional opportunities for ourselves. I feel like I got a good primer in both of these areas this week by being a guest on the Human Social podcast hosted by fellow lawyer Mitch Jackson and at networking event for lawyers who work in eat-what-you-kill environments. The internet has provided the opportunity for the legal industry to break out of the stuffy ambulance-chaser stereotype and show prospective clients that there’s more than one way to be an effective lawyer.

  I feel lucky to be a lawyer who gets to travel and attend non-legal conferences as part of their job. I spent last weekend in San Francisco at the Dad 2.0 Summit – a conference for men who blog about fatherhood. (I was on hand to answer their legal questions related to their blogs.) Being out of the office for a few days and getting away from my everyday routine was refreshing. Meeting a new group of people and listening to some of the topics that were important to them (how men are depicted in the media, gender roles, and what it means to be a man and a father) got the wheels in my head turning in new and different ways. And these guys were the masters of fun. I’d never attended a conference before where I got to shoot Nerf guns and take a field trip to LucasFilm. It so important to periodically take a break from the norm to prevent falling into a rut. I got all that out of a 3-day trip. We’ll see what a difference of 14-day trip will make.

  I’m very excited to announce that I’ve added another speaking gig to the tour yesterday (just after I filmed this week’s video update. I will be speaking to the Solo and Small Practice Section of Washington (State) Bar Association via webinar on March 27th from Los Angeles. I think this will be the first time that I do a webinar that is strictly audio which will be a new challenge for me not to use visuals and to not have immediate feedback from the audience.

  Recently, I sent out the contracts to my sponsors and as soon as I have their commitments I will be announcing them on the site – hopefully next week!

  Planning this tour has been an exciting, stressful, and to be honest an exhausting endeavor. I’m so glad I’m doing it because it’s teaching me so much about myself and giving me the opportunity to connect with so many people. If you have any questions about the tour or if you live along the west coast and you want to meet with me during this trip, please connect with me via Twitter, Facebook, or send me an email.

  February 25, 2015

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  Ruth Carter

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  The Undeniable Tour

  Carter Law Firm, couchsurfing, Dad 2.0 Summit, Hostels, Human Social podcast, Mitch Jackson, Ruth Carter, The Undeniable Tour, Washington Bar Association

• Invest in Yourself with a Monthly Self-Meeting

  

  How much time do you devote each month to your own professional development? I’m serious. When was the last time you took a step back to look at your business as a whole and not just focusing on whatever task is in front of you? I want to share an activity that my business mentor ingrained in me very early in my career as a business owner – a monthly self-meeting. It’s been a pivotal part of my business success. Here’s how I do it:

  Within a week of getting my company’s bank statements, I reconcile my accounts and run the following reports for the previous month: profit and loss, cash flow, and balance sheet. I also pull the list of all my income sources from the previous month. I’ll need these for my meeting.

  For my self-meeting, I block out 2 hours and remove all distractions. This is my time to focus on me and my business. I start my meeting by writing down (by hand) the celebrations since my last self-meeting. These might be things like a successful end to a client’s case, reaching one of my financial goals, or being selected to speak at a conference. It’s always good to look back and see the progress I’ve made, especially since I’m the only person at Carter Law Firm. It’s easy to focus on what I could be doing to improve that I forget to give myself kudos when it’s earned.

  I also look at my networking activities from the past month, what networking events I have coming up, what business ideas I’m toying with, what concerns I have, what opportunities might be on the horizon, and whatever else comes to mind. This is my time to look at my business and process how things are going and where I want to see them in the future. By the end of my self-meeting, I have a list of things I want to accomplish by my next self-meeting. At the subsequent meeting, I will review this list and acknowledge my successes and also look at where I came up short and what contributed to that happening. I also make a list of reflections and write out things that I’ve learned in the last month and what issues are currently important to me.

  Then I shift my attention to the company’s financials. I look at where my work is coming from – which tells me what marketing techniques are being effective, what type of legal projects are bringing me the most revenue, and I review my expenses. I maintain two spreadsheets: one tracks how much money I’m making from each type of legal work I do and the other tracks my spending. These spreadsheets help me see month-to-month how money is coming and going from the company and by the end of the year it gives me a clear picture of the state of my business affairs.

  Sometimes it’s hard to make my self-meeting a priority, particularly when I’m busy. However, it is enormously helpful in terms of my business development as well as understanding who I am and my priorities as a business owner.

  Do you do a periodic self-meeting? What’s your process like?

  February 24, 2015

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  Ruth Carter

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  Nontraditional Lawyer

  Arizona business attorney, business development, business financials, business planning, goal setting, networking, Phoenix small business lawyer, professional development, Ruth Carter, self-meeting

• Top Three Legal Tips for Dad Bloggers from Dad 2.0 Summit

  

  I had an awesome time at Dad 2.0 Summit – an awesome conference for dads who blog. I was invited to the conference to hang out in the Knowledge Bar during the breaks to talk with people about the legal dos and don’ts when it comes to their blogs. One gentleman asked me what three tips I’d give to the conference’s audience. Here’s what I said.

  1. Be Thoughtful about what Images you Use on your Site.
  Unfortunately, a lot of people think they can use any image they find online as long as they give an attribution and a link back to the original. What you’re likely doing is committing copyright infringement and telling the artist what you did. I recommend getting permission from the person to use their image or only use Creative Commons images for your site. I only use images that come with the license that lets me modify and commercialize them.  For more information about this topic, check out this post and/or watch this video.

  2. Register your Trademarks.
  This is my soapbox issue for the year for bloggers, vloggers, and podcasters – register your trademarks! If you don’t, someone else can start using it, register it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and they could essentially shut down your site. You’d have to decide whether to fight them for it or rebrand. It’s easier and cheaper to protect yourself by registering your brand first. Then that way you’ve secured your rights to your name, logo, and slogan everywhere in the U.S. For more information about this topic, check out this post and/or watch this video.

  3. When you get Free Products or Write Sponsored Posts, Disclose It.
  Federal law requires you to only give true and accurate reviews when you do product reviews and you must disclose when you are compensated for giving your opinion. You have to tell your audience when you get products for free, participate in campaigns for compensation, or have sponsors. This rule applies to blogs, review sites, and anywhere you post on social media when you’re compensated for doing so. For more information about this topic, check out this post.

  The laws regarding blogging and social media are still developing so it’s important that you stay abreast of changes as they occur when they apply to you. I will do my best to create content on developments in social media and internet law. If you’re looking for a resource that reviews the laws that apply to bloggers, please check out my book, The Legal Side of Blogging: How Not to get Sued, Fired, Arrested, or Killed. You can always send me an email if you ever have questions, and please stay connected with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

  If I don’t see you before then, I look forward to re-connecting with you at Dad 2.0 Summit next year!

  February 22, 2015

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  Ruth Carter

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  Internet law, Legalities of Blogging

  #dad2summit, Arizona trademark attorney, Blog Law, blogging and free products, Carter Law Firm, Creative Commons, Dad 2.0 Summit, dad bloggers, dad blogs, Free Images for your blog, Internet Law, legal side of blogging, Phoenix copyright lawyer, register trademark, Ruth Carter, social media law, social media lawyer, sponsored blogs

• The Undeniable Tour Update – Building my Schedule

  

  I’m starting to get really excited about The Undeniable Tour. I booked my flights and I’ve locked in five main speaking gigs, and talking with two groups about organizing two more. Now that I’ve locked in those speaking dates, I’m shifting my focus to what I want to do on the other days of the tour – I’m going to be on the road for two weeks total.

  Because my brain works in a very systematic way, I’m building my calendar day by day starting with my first day in San Diego and the last day I will plan will be my last day in Seattle. This trip is giving me the incredible opportunity to reach out to so many people I admire and either want to meet again or meet in person for the first time. I have a short list of people I really really want to meet and I’m wondering how many times I have to tweeted them or message them before they respond – if only to tell me to shut up. And when it comes to this trip, I’m going big. I’m trying not to be so intimidated by anyone that it causes me to not attempt to contact them. As my friend Jason Zook says, “You don’t get what you don’t ask for.” (If you haven’t read his book Creativity for Sale, go buy it immediately. It was because of his book and his course on How To Get Sponsorship For Anything that I was inspired to do The Undeniable Tour.)

  I’m getting close to solidifying my lodging for each night. When I said I was handpicking where I wanted to stay each night, I meant it and I only reached out to places where I really really wanted to stay. (What is with me and “really really” today?) I know a lot of these awesome hotels and B&Bs probably get a lot of solicitations like the ones I sent asking for a free or reduced fee night in exchange for giving them exposure. I know I get plenty of opportunities to speak and write for free and I generally turn most of them down because I just don’t have the time, so I’m not offended that a lot of the places have declined the opportunity to give me a free night as part of The Undeniable Tour. There are a few places that I like so much that I may pay full price and stay with them depending on my final budget, and for the other nights, I’m looking into more economical options like couchsurfing and hostels.

  I’ve never couchsurfed with strangers before and I’ve never stayed in a hostel. I’m using my upcoming trip to San Francisco to experience hostel life for the first time. I’m really curious to see what it’s like to stay in a dorm room with strangers with the communal bathroom down the hall. It may be the closest I get to camping, and if I like it, I can absolutely see myself traveling more often and using hostels instead of hotels. When I go on an adventure, I don’t really care about where I sleep as long as it’s warm, dry, and safe. Why pay $100-200/night plus a fee for Wi-Fi when you can stay in a hostel for $25/night or couchsurf for free?

   

  February 18, 2015

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  Ruth Carter

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  The Undeniable Tour

  Brand X Custom T-shirts, Carter Law Firm, couchsurfing, Creativity for Sale, Hostels, How to get Sponsorship for Anything, Hustle Your Face Off, Jason Zook, Ruth Carter, The Undeniable Tour

• Does Your Business Need Cyber Liability Insurance?

  

  Anthem Health Insurance was victim the latest cyber attack to hit the news. Approximately 80 million customers’ health records were compromised by this security breach. When you hear about these hacking stories, do they make you wonder about your company’s security system? Do you assume that you probably have nothing to worry about because hackers are only interested in big companies like Target?

  I attended a workshop last month about cyber liability insurance where the presenter said that a 2011 study revealed that 95% of all credit card breaches were against small businesses. We only tend to hear about the security breaches involving bigger companies but any size company could be at risk. Data breaches can occur through hacking, theft by unauthorized access , employee errors, and stolen or lost paper or electronic files, laptops, smartphones, flash drives.

  Any business that handles or stores private business, customer, or employee data should consider getting insurance to cover them if a data breach occurs. This data includes social security numbers, bank account information, credit card numbers, driver’s license numbers, and email address. Additionally, you should take a look at your company’s policies and procedures related to data security. Are you taking the following precautions?

  • Secure sensitive data
  • Restrict access to data
  • Dispose of data properly – i.e., wipe laptops before donating them, shred paper files
  • Use effective passwords
  • Use encryption and secure remote access
  • Make sure your employees understand how to protect data and why it’s important

  There are many benefits of having cyber liability insurance. Your provider should offer risk management services to help prevent a data breach from occurring. If a breach occurs, they will can professional assistance for damage control and regulatory compliance as well as cover the response expenses for mailing notification letters, credit monitoring services, and public relations. Your cyber liability insurance policy can also cover your defense and liability expenses if you are sued because of the breach.

  This is a serious issue that can affect any company that uses the internet for business or commerce. If you have a traditional business liability insurance policy, read the terms carefully; it may not cover cyber liability. If you need a cyber liability insurance policy, contact a cyber liability insurance specialist to discuss your needs and options.

  If you have questions or want to chat more about these issues, feel free to connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or you can send me an email.

  February 17, 2015

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  Ruth Carter

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  Business Law, Internet law

  Arizona business attorney, Arizona internet attorney, cyber liability insurance, data security breach, hacking, Phoenix small business lawyer, phoenix social media lawyer, Ruth Carter

• The Undeniable Tour Update – Working on Logistics

  

  There is so much that needs to be done before the beginning of The Undeniable Tour. It seems like my to-do list is getting longer every day as I think of more things that need to get done. Even though I’m uber busy right now, I am enjoying the process.

  Last weekend I planned out the basic structure of my trip, figuring out which city I need to be in or want to be in on each day and researching where I want to spend each night. I initially thought that I was going to have to go old school and put different colored push pins through my map of California to help me visualize my plans, but I was able to figure it out with a little help from Google Maps.

  One of the most enjoyable things I’ve had to do in the last week is a research hotels and bed and breakfasts where I might want to stay. I purposely looked for independently owned places that had a rich history or something particularly unique about them. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to find places that weren’t your run-of-the-mill hotels.

  I spent most of yesterday crafting emails to each hotel where I hope to stay, explaining who I am and why I’m doing The Undeniable Tour, and inquire if they would be interested in hosting me for a night in exchange for the exposure they would get from me on this blog, my YouTube channel, social media, and I would post reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor. So far I’ve had one place accept – Casa Bella Sera (so excited to stay with you!), two places declined, and one asked whether I would need a room with one bed or two. I was a little bummed when the hotel that is made out of converted railway cars declined to be part of the tour, but that just means I get to stay with someone else that night.

  If there is a city where I can’t find a hotel or B&B to host me, I’ll look at my options for a cheap hotel, a hostel, and I might consider trying couchsurfing.com. My friend Liesl couchsurfed across Australia, staying with strangers, and didn’t die. It would definitely make my adventure more colorful.

  If you have any suggestions for things I should see, people I should meet, or places I should stay during The Undeniable Tour, please let me know!

  February 11, 2015

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  Ruth Carter

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  The Undeniable Tour

  Casa Bella Sera, couchsurfing, Ruth Carter, The Undeniable Tour