Hi Reader!

30 Rock is one of my comfort shows. I watch it when I want something playing while I’m knitting or sewing, or when I’m tired and don’t want to process anything new.

This week I watched the episode called Problem Solvers. In it, Tracey mentions that at the beginning of his career, he signed a bad contract that requires him to promote “Wade Boggs Carpet World” five times every time he’s on camera.

And this is exactly the kind of situation I’d tell Tracey to put in his “Sh*t I’ll Never Do Again” book.

I’ve talked a lot about this notebook this summer, not only because it’s a powerful tool to improve your contracts, but also because it’s one of my not-so-secret business superpower tools.

It has helped me improve so many areas of my business. In fact, after a conversation on Tuesday, I’ve been going through it to figure out why a certain part of my business isn’t working for me right now.

Depending on the kind of business you run, the situations that get put in this book will vary.

But for many creatives, a common scenario in this book is when they give up more rights in a contract than they wished they would have.

This happens for many reasons:

• You think it’s an okay tradeoff to give up the rights
• You didn’t understand exactly what rights you were giving up
• You are in a tight spot and feel like accepting the terms is your only option.

👉 Your action item: Think back to a situation where you gave up more rights than you wished you had. And in true Monday Morning Quarterback fashion, WHY it wasn’t a good deal in hindsight. So that next time this situation arises, you can make sure you don’t repeat the mistake.

Did you complete this task? Be brave and share why it wasn't a good deal on LinkedIn or Facebook.

That's all for this week Reader! When you signed up, my promise was to add ease to the legalese of running your creative business. I'd love to know your thoughts or challenges with this week's task. Reply to this email and let me know.

And a big thank you to the almost dozen of you who responded last week! You rock! 🙌

Chat soon,

P.S. Need help getting your contract's intellectual property clauses to match how you work? Need tools to better explain copyright ownership to your clients? That’s exactly what we are covering in next week’s Shield Your Studio. Join us for $39.

P.P.S. One of my goals is to grow my email list. Do you love these emails? Know a fellow creative who would benefit from them? If you share this signup page with them and send me a screenshot of the share, I’ll invite you to an AMA in early September.

❤️ Easy-to-understand legal resources should be available to every creative, regardless of their financial situation. If one of my resources has helped you and you would like to say “thank you”, you can make a contribution here. ❤️