"You'd better get a Lawyer son..."

Twice I've heard those sobering words from other people since I started working online. Twice people have threatened to sue me because they thought I was doing something that infringed on their rights.

Both times I had done nothing wrong and it was simply a misunderstanding...but you never know how it's going to turn out.

That's why asset protection is so vital when you own a business, especially an online business.

You'll have people from all over the world visiting you, and you just never know what sort of attitudes, beliefs and problems they'll bring with them.

One day you may write an article that looks surprisingly similar to something somebody's published in an obscure document a few years back. The author will arrive at your site, think you've found their article and copied it word for word, and claim you've breached their copyright.

Or one of your Newsletter subscribers may send you a note mentioning a strategy she's been thinking about using and ask for your opinion.

Then when you do something similar (even though you've been setting it up for weeks anyway on your own before you even heard from her), she'll think you stole her idea and want to drag you though court to prove her case.

Don't think it can't happen to you, because it can...

The majority of the general population is unfortunately burdened with a chronic 'Lack' mentality.

Most people feel that for them to succeed, someone else must lose out. If you 'steal' their idea, then they have to get you back.

They don't realize that online in particular, there is absolute abundance.

Every 'competitor' is actually a potential joint venture partner (although if they have a 'lack' mentality, you don't want to partner with them - I know, I've made this mistake before).

Here's the problem -

Every product can be improved on and has some similarities to other competing products.
Every customer or client is not just 'theirs', although some of your competitors will think you stole 'their' customers by selling them your product which is similar to theirs

These customers are going to buy stuff from all sorts of other people as well. Just because somebody buys something from you, it doesn't mean that they are 'your' exclusive customer.

But somewhere there is probably one of your competitors who thinks this person belongs to them, and if they feel you've stolen their customer, they'll make it their personal mission to ruin your life.

You have to protect yourself from these types of

people. You need asset protection...

Before you get too far into building your new web business, I urge you to consult a legal adviser and set up a protective structure around yourself and your assets.

Let's hope you never need it, but if you do and you haven't set up your asset protection structure before hand, it's too late then.

So what do you need?

To cover myself, I have put a Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use page on all of my websites. Plus the websites are owned by a Company/Trust Structure and not me personally. You may want to consider doing something similar for yourself.

I used a product called Auto Web Law to create my Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy Templates. It's recommended by other Internet marketing pros and could be suitable for your needs as well.

Like I said, check with your legal adviser so you know you're covered.

And take a look at Auto Web Law. It could save you a whole heap of heartache.

That's it for this lesson.

Keep up the great work building your new site, and I'll be back next week.

Warmly,

P.S. Don't miss next weeks lesson when we'll start requesting links from other websites and increasing our new website's Link Popularity.

The more incoming links you have coming to your site, the higher the search engines will rank you. Incoming links are critical to your success. Next week we'll start to get them...

Check out Accelerate Review for more...