The Next Step - Have you considered licensing your method?
Have you found yourself with a waitlist for your services?
Perhaps you train other people within your industry and share your information with them?
Maybe you are asked by the people you train if they can use your resources or teachings with their own clients?
Or they are just using your resources anyway and you don’t have control over it?
If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions now is the right time to consider licensing your method with the support of a Licensing Agreement. In this article we look at the three stages of the licensing process to help set up your business for success.
Are you looking for a Licencing Agreement? The link to ours can be found below:
Are you licencing an online course or program? You may also benefit from these legal templates:
When is it a good idea to start considering licensing?
If you find that your training materials are appearing elsewhere then you need to be thinking about what you can do about it.
Can you control this process?
Do you have resources that you could license?
You could trademark your method, or have a process where you train people and add an accreditation or certification to that training. That way you can license your unique training materials and methods for others to use your accredited method within their own business.
Example of licensing your method
One good example of how licensing works in action is looking at the Les Mills fitness classes. They are all licensed. You may have heard of their “Body Pump”, “Body Step” and “Body Combat” classes that are available at a number of fitness centres around Australia and around the world. All of these classes are licensed by Les Mills to fitness instructors and gyms.
These licensed classes have been set up to establish a framework and move set to certain songs. From the choreography to the music used and the exercises that are included, go to a gym and do a Body Pump class and you should get the same class regardless of where you go. Gyms that want to teach Les Mills classes are required to purchase the licensing of the method in order to use and promote the classes. If they stop their license fee then they must stop offering Les Mills classes at their gym.
Every time a Les Mills class runs around the world, they receive a fee for its use. It is an excellent way for their unique method or formula, to reach more people, earn more money and protect their intellectual property in the process. Yet Les Mills can focus on developing routines and selling them from one to many.
This type of licensing is quite prevalent in the business space, especially for business coaches. It is not just for the sports and fitness industry.
The three stages of licensing
Stage One: Before you license your method
If you intend to license your method and perhaps resources as well, you will first need to get your trademarks sorted, because you must have something to tangibly protect and a valuable product to license. Otherwise, if someone markets your methods as their own, if it is not trademarked, you won’t be able to enforce your ownership in the intellectual property. . In many ways it becomes worthless if it hasn’t been trademarked.
You can trademark the name of actual resources or frameworks as well as the name of the method and any associated logos, provided IP Australia accepts your trademark or if it is not already in use. Your resources are covered by the Copyright Act, but you also want to protect them within a trademarked method, an ‘umbrella’ of sorts.
This is the first step because you have to own your method and the resources before you can protect and sell it to others as a training method.
Stage Two: Setting up what you will license
The second stage is the ‘doing’ stage. To have people license your method and resources you will need to deliver it through an online course or training course for example, with terms and conditions and set tasks to follow and complete.
When working with our clients we usually prepare online course terms or program terms and conditions which cover the accreditation and the training. Then we proceed to the license agreement, which is a separate document.
Stage Three: Implementation of your license
Once you have all the documentation and your training course or platform is set up, you need to make the steps to your clients for accreditation clear when marketing your method and resources to people. This is so your clients know what they must do to be accredited.
Once they have completed all of your requirements, you will need a final accreditation step. This can be an interview with you to be confident that you are happy for this person or organisation to use your intellectual property. Upon completing your accreditation requirements you can then grant a license and agreement once the client fulfills both the training and accreditation.
It is also a great idea to have a section on your website listing your accredited trainers with links to their websites.
Doing this could be potentially beneficial for you as the licensor because someone may want to work with an individual who is accredited who is local to them. Showcasing who your accredited persons are will only benefit you in the long term and you could even end up with trained licensees delivering your content around the world.
When implementing your license, you are selling the structure of your brand and method. It is important to clearly outline what is and is not included in the license. You may offer them a membership to a Facebook group exclusive to licensees, and it may include updates or regular training material. There are a variety of ways in which you can structure it however it must be documented correctly in the Agreement.
Reasons to get started now
Trademarking takes a long time so if you have a method or program in the works or already in play, now is the time to get that protected. When we help our clients we start with the trademarking and also get them moving on the other pieces at the same time.
If you are yet to publicly share your method, you should at least lodge the application for your trademark now before you go ahead and sell it because it should eventually be registered.
It is important to note that a trademark in Australia can take between eight and ten months to get registered. That is why it is really important to start the process because once you have started the process, even before it's registered if someone else tries to register the same trademark, your application will take priority.
Given that trademarks can take such a long time to be registered, and you can be denied, you want to be confident that your application is done correctly so you won’t have to resubmit and that you have the best chance at getting it registered in the shortest amount of time.
Related: Keeping it confidential: When to use a non-disclosure agreement
Do you charge for speaking? 7 reasons why you need your own speaker contract
5 questions to ask yourself before launching your mastermind, online training or coaching program
How to protect your intellectual property in business: Trademarking online courses and programs
5 tips for how to run a successful webinar (free or paid!)
If you are ready to take the next step in your business, and are looking for expert advice on trademarking or wish to discuss licensing your method, book a time with Emma for a free no obligation chat.