Hey there, amazing….
branding consultant
photographer
artist
maker
copy writer
author
blogger
business coach
entrepreneur…
I’m willing to bet my entire week’s income that there is one thing you’re doing each and every week in your business.
That one thing could be a huge money maker but because you don’t know where to pay attention you overlook it’s full power.
You’re creating content.
You’re probably creating:
- beautiful images to promote your brand on social media
- amazing copy to market your services
- attention grabbing blog posts that are bringing brands and followers to the yard
- stand out product descriptions that are making people swoon for your jewelry and hand crafted goods
- unique lifestyle photography that you one day envision leading to a deal with a commercial agency or compiling into an a collector’s book
- inspirational podcasts that share your most meaningful experiences and lessons with the world
- a Youtube series following your behind the scenes as an artist or writer
- samples of your writing to tease that upcoming book you plan to publish
Whatever your creation is… I bet my last dollar you are creating something that’s meaningful.
Today, everyone is a content creator. Everyone.
The biggest mistake I see is that creative geniuses, like yourself, don’t value your content.
You share it.
Let the world have it’s way with it.
You trade it in the name of buzz and promo…but, discount just how incredible your work is….
You’d get that love anyways. You don’t have to sell yourself short for it.
By selling yourself short, I mean that you are ignoring the real value in your content. It’s part of your intellectual property arsenal — in other words, it’s an asset. You wouldn’t just let some stranger rent your paid-for house for free, and invite all of their friends to the party.
So why are you doing that with your content?
You’ve paid to produce it right?
- It cost you time that you could’ve spent with your friends, family or your own ‘self.
- It cost you energy that you could’ve used on something else.
It cost you something….
So, why wouldn’t you take the necessary steps so that you can flip that cost, into a true investment and position yourself for ROI? Why wouldn’t you take that next step to flip it into an asset for your business?
Why haven’t you harnessed your power as a creative entrepreneur and protected it legally?
Did you know that legally protecting your content is not just about protecting yourself from potential thieves and copycats?
It’s also about creating a financial opportunity for yourself. It’s about expanding your reach. It’s about laying the foundation for your legacy. It’s about having a passive revenue stream that doesn’t equal random hustles.
The one step you’re not taking is you’re not registering your original content with the U.S. copyright office. It’s an absolute must. And no, it’s not expensive it all. Registrations start at $35.00.
Even if you don’t think you’ll want to use it as a money maker now, you need to give yourself that option. Register it now, and work out your monetization strategy later (I can help you with that by the way).
I firmly believe in leveraging creativity for cash. And that’s what registering your copyright is all about.
When you own a copyright in an original creation it means that you own an exclusive bundle of rights. That bundle includes the right to:
- Reproduce your work
- Distribute or sell your work
- Modify your original work, or create a derivative (a work based on an original i.e. a short film based on a poem)
- Perform or display the copyrighted work
And, sell or license these rights to other people.
Those rights kick in the second you publish an original work, and put it in tangible form. But, registering with the U.S. Copyright office is where the real power lies:
You’ll have:
- A public record of your copyright ownership (Instead of having to play a game of he-said/she-said if an issue arises)
- The ability to sue for copyright infringement (Don’t you want to have a solid way to handle it if someone steals your ish?)
- If you register within 5 years of publishing the work, the mere fact you registered is proof that you’re the actual copyright owner. In court, the burden of proof will be on the infringer (the jerk) to prove that you do not actually own the copyright.
- Registration within 3 months of publication or anytime before infringement entitles you to recover statutory damages and attorney’s fees. Statutory damages is between $750 and $30,000 for each instance of infringement, or up to $150,000 where there is “willful infringement”. If you don’t register within these timeframes, you are limited to actual damages (which in most cases will be very low for newbies).
When you’ve registered your work you can confidently license it (think of a license as an apartment lease) or sell it to others for profit. You can make money without leaving the couch.
You can use your legally protected content as a means to make cash from your creativity and leverage it for impact + legacy.
You work hard and deserve the next level ish.
Respect the content, peeps. Treat it kind.
She’s queen.
I wrote more on leveraging your creativity for cash in this post. You may want to (as in you probably should) check it out.