HOW TO COPYRIGHT YOUR T-SHIRT BUSINESS DESIGNS | Business Licenses | LLC Proprietorship | Trademark
HOW TO COPYRIGHT YOUR T-SHIRT BUSINESS DESIGNS | Business Licenses | LLC Proprietorship | Trademark
written by Stephanie Rodnez
How To Copyright Your T-Shirt Business Designs (Business Licenses, Trademarks, Copyrights, Proprietorships, LLC for Christian Entrepreneurs) | (HOW TO) || ➡️ Grab my FREE Launch Your T-Shirt Business Checklist here: https://www.purposegift.com/tshirtchecklist
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Want to know how to copyright designs for your Christian t- shirt business? And do you want to know all about business licenses, permits, tax IDs, EIN numbers? Well sis, in this video, I'm going to give you the tea about all the business paperwork stuff when it comes to launching your own Christian t- shirt business. So stay tuned to the end of this video and make sure you grab some pen and paper, and let me give you the tea.
Hey Godlywoodgirl welcome back to my channel. It's your girl Stephanie Rodnez; Founder and CEO of Godlywoodgirl, Creator of the Godlywoodgirl School of Business. In this video, I'm really excited to answer a question that I got from Taylor Thompson, who said: “Could you do a video on business licenses, LLC, proprietorship etc. I would really appreciate it”. I am so excited to actually do this video. This is actually one of the most requested videos I get. Not just on YouTube, but also on Instagram and for my school of business students as well.
Now, disclaimer, I am not a lawyer. I am not a tax accountant. I'm not a CPA. And that's pretty much the reason why I have stayed away from talking about licenses, registrations and things like that, because I'm not a lawyer. But I have registered my own company, trademarked my own company, copyright my own company. So I'm going to share this information with you from that perspective. But I highly, highly recommend you to speak with a lawyer. And as we go over this information, you'll hear me say that a lot, contact a CPA, contact a lawyer, yada, yada, and all that good stuff. Now, if you're not already subscribed to the Godlywoodgirl YouTube channel, make sure you hit that subscription button. My goal for this channel is for it to be the number one resource for every woman of faith who wants to live her greatest purpose for Christ as a Christian entrepreneur. So if that's you hit that subscription button and let's dive into how to copyright and protect your T shirt business images. Plus, we're going to talk about business licenses, permits registrations, yada, yada..!
Registering Your Business.
So first things first, let's start from the top, registering your business. Registering your business and the structure of your business that you choose is going to depend on your location and your state. Every single state has different rules, regulations requirements for the structure of a business. So I went to sba.gov that is a small business administration from the government. And I took a look at all the different entities that are possible for you to register with. But in your state, there may be even more so you're ought to talk to an accountant, not a lawyer when you're choosing the structure of your business.
The reason why is because the way that you structure your business is going to determine the way that you are taxed by Uncle Sam. So lawyers while they're very brilliant in the legalities of business, and legally protecting your business, registered CPA accountants in your state will be an expert at hearing your business goals and letting you know which is the best option for you to register your business. You don't want to do this backwards. You don't want to get a lawyer first register your business and then talk to a CPA because you may have to change the structure of your business which is what happened to me. You're going to want to talk to an accountant first, tell them about your business goals, and they will tell you what the best structure is for your business right now.
As your business grows, your accountant may advise you to change the structure, depending on your growth to get you the best tax advantages, but make sure you talk to a CPA first let them know your current business goals. They will tell you the best way to register your business. So there are a lot of different business structures that you can use. There's a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability companies, corporations, including C Corp corporations, escort corporations, B Corp corporations, nonprofit corporations, and there are their cooperatives and there are actual combinations of structures. So there are a lot of different ways for you to register your business and you don't want to choose the wrong one. Talk to an accountant in your state. Make sure it is a CPA licensed accountant in your state because each state has different rules for each of these structures and you can register from there.
Here in Florida, I registered my Business at Sunbiz.org that is our state government website for registering your business. The first business that I had, I registered with legalzoom.com they are an online company with lawyers and I paid like 600 bucks and gave them all the information and then they filed the paperwork for me sent me my articles of incorporation. The second business Godlywoodgirl, I registered myself because well at that point I knew what I was doing and I went directly to sunbiz.org, filed out the correct paperwork, paid my fee and file incorporated my business. So there are different options which you can use but just again make sure you talk to an accountant first to figure out which structure works best for your business.
EIN Number.
Once you have registered your business, the next step is to figure out how you are going to pay Uncle Sam. This is called an EIN number; an employee identification number. Just as a social security number is for an individual person, the EIN number is for a business. It is how the IRS tracks your expenses, your income and taxes you on that number. EIN numbers are free to get from the IRS, you just have to give them your business name, your registration, your business number, if you have one and then they're going to give you an EIN number based off of your registered business but you need to get your business registered with your state first. And then you're going to go to I think its irs.gov and actually file for an EIN number employee identification number. They're going to send you a document in the mail with that EIN number attached. Make sure you save it. They also email me a copy of my EIN number so I actually saved it on my computer as well. You're going to be using this number when you file your taxes.
You'll also be using this number when you use payment processors like stripe and PayPal and Amazon because when those companies pay you, they're actually going to send a form to the IRS at the end of the year letting the IRS know how much they paid you. That's how the IRS makes sure you're giving them the money that you're supposed to give them. Everything is going to be sorted for your business by that number.
You also may need a state tax ID number as well. This is going to depend on your state what this is called, what you need, how often you need to file. So here in the state of Florida, we have to have a sales tax license. And basically, you register with the state of Florida and you have to charge 7% tax on all your goods that you sell. And you have to pay the state of Florida that those goods will that tax every three months. So you have to register for that here and it's free to register, but obviously you have to pay them the money sis. But every state is different. And for California, it's different and taxes is different and DC is different. your accountant is going to tell you all this information will tell you exactly what you need to file and where you need to file to get your state tax ID number. Now let's talk about business licenses and permits and this is actually one of the biggest questions that I get asked.
Here's the thing, states and the federal government require different licenses, different permits for different types of business. If you are in construction, you are required to get a contract permit if you're a general contractor, you're required to get a general contractor permit. There are a lot of different types of permits for different types of industries. So your lawyer will advise you what permit is necessary for your business in your state. So it all depends on the state that you live in and your lawyer would will advise you on what permits you need for your industry. Remember, with your taxes, you're paying taxes on two different levels, you are paying the federal government, your actual taxes, and you're paying your state tax. So that's that sales tax that you charge on every single item. So you know what, like when you go to the grocery store and something costs $1, but you end up paying $1.06 or $1.07 that six, seven cents, goes to the state. And then the state the government, depending on how your company is structured is going to take like 25% of that dollar. So you want to make sure you talk to your accountant to figure out what you need to be charging on your goods on your services to make sure you have money when tax season comes April 15 to pay Uncle Sam.
Now let's talk about protecting your business something that most digital entrepreneurs do not do and I don't understand why. Protecting your business is basically just about protecting the work that you do, especially as an online entrepreneur. A lot of people don't know that you can protect your blog posts, your websites, and any content that you write any videos that you film, anything that you produce t- shirts that you designed. I'm wearing the Godlywoodgirl t- shirt right now and this is protected by law. Nobody can steal this because I have protected it. I want to talk to you about actually protecting your digital assets in your business.
Trademarks
The first thing are trademarks. Trademarks are maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. That is uspto.gov. So what they do is they have this massive database of all of these registered trademarks that are protected names and images that people have filed. I have a trademark registered for Godlywoodgirl, I had a trademark registered for my first business name as well. When you have a trademark registered for your business name or some sort of asset in your business, if somebody steals it or tries to use it and profit from it, you have a legal document that protects you from that person using it. And if they continue to do it, you can actually take them to court and sue them for damages because they have violated your trademark.
Trademarks are very, very important and very, very necessary especially as you are working to put all this hard work into your business. So what kind of things would you trademark, right? Well, maybe the name of your business. I have trademarked Godlywoodgirl and you can file a trademark right on the government website uspto.gov. I paid about $500 to $600 for my trademark and my trademark last for 10 years. And then you need to renew it every five years basically. So to make sure that the trademark doesn't expire. Now make sure that you've chosen a business name that's not already trademarked. You can use tests that is the trademark electronic search system that USPTO offers. And you can find them at tmsearch.uspto.gov. So basically you go into the database, you do a trademark search and if that trademark is not currently being protected in that class that you're searching for, then you can file to register a trademark on it. You can do that directly on the website, or you can hire a lawyer. I know legalzoom.com offers trademark services as well. They're just going to charge their own fee on top of the fee you already have to pay to the US government.
When I was registering my trademark for my first company, I did use a lawyer. I used legalzoom.com the second time for Godlywoodgirl I did it myself, because again, I had seen how LegalZoom had done it and so I just did it myself. The second time, though, I did have a couple of questions about one of the things that I wanted to trademark and I remember calling the United States government. I asked one of the trademark attorneys a question and he actually answered my questions and was super helpful. I don't think a lot of people know that that option is available and this was like six years ago. I don't know if they still take phone calls from little, lowly people like me, but they definitely helped me out.
Copyright
The next thing you can do to protect your work is copywriting your work and copyrights are maintained by the United States Copyright office @copyright.gov. Copyrighting your assets actually lasts for like 100 years or the entire lifetime of the person who holds the copyright and you don't have to continue renewing them. Once it's copyrighted, it's copyrighted. So the last time I copyrighted something was $35 to copyright it, I'm not sure if that amount has gone up or down. But you can do copyrights by going to copyright.gov. Now let's talk about the different things that you can copyright right? If you are copywriting a t- shirt design, yes, you can copyright t- shirt designs, illustrations, vector images, like this printable that I have right here, I can actually copyright that said nobody can steal it. Quotable you can copyright all of your visual assets and you're going to use the visual arts form. Submit that form right at copyright. gov.
You upload the asset, you pay the fee, everything is digital now it's great. When I started Godlywoodgirl, everything had to do be done by hand. You had to download the form, print it out, fill it out and quit your check, sign it, date it, and then mail it into the copyright office. But now everything is digital. I think it's fantastic. And again, that copyright lasts for your entire lifetime. It's amazing. If you want to copyright your books, your e- books, your printed guides, things like that, you can use the literary works form. If you want to copyright your videos, yes, you can copyright this video, I can copyright this YouTube video that you're watching right now, I can actually copyright this. And so if somebody actually takes my video and tries to sell it to somebody else, saying this is how you're going to register for your license and permits and tries to make money off of it, I can take that person to court and show the judge my copyright and say this person has violated my copyright and they would have to pay me damages so you can copyright videos. It's amazing. And you're going to use the motion pictures form.
Here's the one that most people don't know, because it's relatively new in the grand scheme of things. You can actually copyright your website, your blog and your other digital content, you're going to use the digital content form@copyright.gov/registration, that digital content form protects your assets online. You know how people sometimes go to your website, borrow your blog post, and not cite you. And then somebody will see that blog post and email and be like: “Hey, I think they stole your information”. And sometimes you feel completely helpless. Or even worse, I had somebody DM me on Instagram, a young lady who had this amazing online course that really helped Christians grow in their faith. Somebody else purchased her course, took her information, and actually created their own course using her own materials and started making money off of it. And she just felt so helpless and I was like no sis, copyright your stuff and then send that person a cease and desist letter and say: “I have this protected from the United States Copyright Office, you need to stop Ross, and I’m taking you to court”! You can protect your digital assets. Do not let people come in here and profit off of your hard work. That is not okay, that is not biblical, and you need to make sure you are protecting your work.
Another thing that you can copyright most people don't realize are your photographs. If you take selfies of yourself, you take pictures of yourself in your office, if you take artistic photographs that you saw online, you can copyright all this using the photography form. You don't have to let people borrow your images and repost and all this stuff and be helpless. No bruh! copyright your stuff. And if you see somebody taking it, you let them know they're violating your copyright and they need to take it down immediately. And while we're talking about all this, when you have decided on your business name, make sure you go ahead and register the domain name, you can use godaddy.com or I think its called hostgator. There's a bunch of online domain hosting websites, I use godaddy.com. Make sure you just go ahead and take care of your domain name. It's gonna cost you about $20 to $23. And make sure you go ahead and register your social media handle on all the social media platforms, which will be free. So Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Twitch, LinkedIn, all the other ones, make sure you go ahead and register your business handle name because people can be a little shady sometimes and when they see you starting to glow up, and they're like: “Oh, she hasn't yet registered this name on Pinterest. I'm gonna go get it and then try to charge you it's so shady”. But just make sure as soon as you choose your business name and you're moving forward with trademarking, go ahead and secure all those social media handles and your domain name anyway.
Insurance
So the last few things I want to talk about the first thing is insuring your business. A lot of us don't really think about insurance when we're first starting a business. Because I mean, why do you need insurance for a business, right? We're just working out of our house and it's not really a big deal. But there's actually insurance policies that exist for solopreneurs home based entrepreneurs and it's pretty incredible. If you have a physical business, like a physical retail store, and all that stuff, you are required to get insurance just in order to get a lease. That's why people who have physical businesses usually don't skip this step. But those of us who have online businesses and work from home, we tend to forget that we should probably get insurance. So when you were looking for insurance, remember that business insurance protects you from just unexpected things. You wouldn't have known people trying to sue you for something people saying you violated one of their copyright law others or somebody getting injured when you're doing something for your business or something like that.
Business Insurance is just there to protect you from the unexpected that might happen. And there's lots of different types of insurances. There's general liability insurance, product liability insurance, professional liability insurance, commercial property insurance, home based business insurance, business owners policy, whichever type you decide to get, you ought to make sure that you find a reputable licensed agents in your state. You want to find a broker, somebody who is not working for a specific insurance company, but a broker who is independent, licensed, and basically will shop for the best deal for you because they don't have loyalty or allegiance to any one insurance company. You don't want to find an insurance agent who works for a specific insurance company because obviously, they're going to get more benefit from selling you their boss's insurance policy. Find a license registered broker in your state, and ask them to help you determine what type of business insurance you need. You're going to let them know what you do in your business, what kind of products you create, what kind of activities you do. So if you have an outdoor business and you meet up with clients on an actual location, or if you're a completely digital entrepreneur like me, and you work from home all day, they'll let you know what kind of insurance that you need. If you have physical products that you send out, they'll let you know. If you have only digital products that you use, they'll let you know. So they will let you know what kind of insurance you need and then they will shop around for the best prices for you. Don't be afraid of insurance. Sometimes these policies are like $20 to $30 bucks a month. It's not that expensive to protect yourself against the unexpected.
Address
The last thing that I wanted to talk to you about when it comes to the paperwork of your T shirt business is you want to get yourself a P.O. Box or a virtual address for your company. Now there are things like the can spam act that the US government have Congress has passed that requires certain things to have your business address. For example, if you're sending out mass emails, right, you're using an autoresponder, automation, you have to legally have at the bottom of those emails, you send out an unsubscribe button and your business address. This is to reduce spam; can spam act obviously. So in that address, though, you don't want to put your home address. I don't care if you're a home based entrepreneur, I'm a home based entrepreneur, I don't put my address on anything related to my business. You don't want to put your home address you want to put a P.O. Box or a vanity address that you can get from like ups.com.
Now the thing about P.O. Boxes is that not everybody accepts them. So for example, I was able to use a peel box for my autoresponder but I wasn't able to use a P.O. Box from my payment processor system. So it's going to depend on the type of website you're trying to use the P. O. Box for, but I have both a P. O. Box and a vanity address. And that way I'm able to do what I need to do. So again, you can get a P. O. Box in your area. My P.O. Box is $29 every three months, it's less than $10 a month, and it’s a great deal. Or you can get a vanity address from ups on your local UPS Store. You just go in you say you want a box and they'll give you an actual address; a physical address that you can use for your business. It's a little more expensive, I think it's like $100 a month or something like that, but worth it to not have to put your physical address and give it to strangers.
So that's it for this t- shirt business video on business licenses, permits structures, registration tax IDs, all the legal paperwork stuff that none of us think about when we're starting a business but eventually has to get done right. So if you have any questions let me know in the comment box below for if I miss anything, let me know in the comment box below. Remember I am not a lawyer, I am not giving you legal advice, I can't give you legal advice, and I haven't taken the bar. I'm not a CPA, I'm not a certified accountant. So you need to make sure that you speak with a certified CPA in your State and you need to make sure you speak with the business attorney in your state to be able to determine the best structure for your business, the permits that are required, the licenses, if any, are required. Some businesses don't require any license some people do, and to speak to a broker in your state after you've registered your business to figure out what kind of insurances you should have for your business.
Thanks so much for watching this video. If you're not already subscribed to the Godlywoodgirl YouTube channel, hit that subscribe button. My goal for this channel is for it to be the number one resource for every woman of faith who wants to live her greatest purpose for Christ. If you want help building your business online, you want help from a faith based entrepreneur who has been doing this since 2008, Sis, come and join me at the Godlywoodgirl School of Business. There, I teach you how to start a Christian business online using the power of email list. Click the link below to get more information about the School of Business and God willing, I'll see you here on YouTube.
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⬇️ Sign up for the Godlywood Girl School Of Business 2.0 Here: https://purposelegend.com/schoolofbusiness
⬇️ Get my Launch Your T-Shirt Business Masterclass here ➡️➡️➡️ http://bit.ly/launchtshirtbusiness
Want a to learn how to copyright your t-shirt business designs? If you want to know how to copyright your t-shirt designs at home and need an amazing tshirt business video to help you do it, this video will show you tips and resources to copyright, trademark and register your t-shirt business and t-shirt designs. You’ll know how to copyright your t-shirt business designs and the best tips for business licenses and trademarking your t-shirt business.
If you’re looking for t shirt business opportunities and just need a t shirt business plan pdf to help you start designing and selling t shirts online, this video will show you about copyrighting your t-shirt business designs.
Next time you’re ready to start your own t shirt business, this video will give you the step by step tips to help you get started, and you’ll be set up with the best t shirt business ideas so you can know how to start a tshirt business.
4 Major Points If You Want TO COPYRIGHT YOUR T-SHIRT BUSINESS DESIGNS:
Tip #1: Make sure you speak with a licensed CPA, lawyer and broker in your state
Tip #2: Take ACTION on what you learn in the video. Don’t just look at it and put it aside. Actually take action on the steps.
Tip #3: Share what you learn with others in the t shirt business video. Research shows that we retain up to 90% of what we teach but only about 25% of what we read, so teach what you learned in the videos to others so you retain the information better.
Tip #4: Make the t shirt business work for you. Don’t be afraid to grab a pen and paper and modify that bad boy. This is YOUR tool to use to launch your own t shirt business online.
Watch the video and learn how to copyright your t-shirt business designs.
QUICK LINKS
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ABOUT GODLYWOOD GIRL
Hey sis! It's your girl Stephanie Rodnez, founder & CEO of Godlywood Girl, and I want to welcome you to the Godlywood Girl sisterhood. If you're a woman who loves the Lord and wants to live His greatest purpose for your life as a Christian entrepreneur, then I created this website especially for you.
I started Godlywood Girl in 2013 as a way to help myself heal from the heartache and trauma of failing at my first business. You see, I was a filmmaker creating movies for Christian youth groups, but a series of bad decisions and mismanagement led to me almost having to declare bankruptcy on my first business.
For two years I sat in depression from the failure of that business, until one day, a video by Dr. ET Thomas inspired me to get back up and step into my purpose again. As a result, I got back to my God-given purpose as a Christian entrepreneur, and Godlywood Girl was born. My goal with Godlywood Girl is to connect you with the resources you need to achieve your greatest purpose for Christ as a Christian entrepreneur.
Whether you're just getting started on your journey, or you're a seasoned purposepreneur in the biz, I want to welcome you to the Godlywood Girl sisterhood. You are my sister, and I can't wait to connect with you online.
xox,
Stephanie (Godlywood Girl) Rodnez
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