Being in the online and small business world both as a lawyer and a small business owner, I often hear from business owners who wish to collaborate with someone else, but don’t necessarily want to merge their businesses. For example, they might want to hold a joint workshop or retreat, co-host a podcast, write a book together, create a product collaboratively, run an online course together or create a mastermind or masterclass in partnership.

Having employees that work a mix of in the office and at home or from a co-working space, is more prevalent than ever since the pandemic and it has changed the way workplaces need to operate. Businesses are becoming more open to employees working outside of the office (remotely) or even working from a combination of in the office and at home each week.

Non-disclosure agreements (NDA’s) are much more common than you think and asking someone to sign one is often a completely appropriate request. While very common in the United States, they are also widely used in Australia to protect confidential information owned by a person or a business.

In this article, I break down what a non-disclosure agreement is and look at common examples of where it is used. I also let you know what a mutual non-disclosure agreement is.