FAQs

What contracts do I need to start my business?

This is a tough one to answer in general terms, but you must think of your business in three areas: client relationships, business fundamentals, and online legality. The Legal Foundations E-Book is the best place to start!

If you have a website, you need a privacy policy and a terms & conditions. Here’s why.

If you are starting your business from the ground up, you should be forming an LLC. If you have an LLC, you absolutely need to have an operating agreement. View the single member and multi-member option. Here’s why. As a note; if you don’t have a one, a judge could do something called “pierce the corporate veil”, which would render your LLC useless. You don’t want that.

Finally, if you deal with ANY client in any capacity, you need a contract. For example, if you’re a photographer, you need to have a photography contract. Even if you just sell online products- you need to have an online terms and conditions of sale.

We also recommend reading our in-depth blog post titled “I’m new to business, what legal agreements do I need?” as that gives much more detail to all the contracts & templates we’ve mentioned thus-far.

I need to hire team members, which contract(s) do I need?

Typically, we recommend starting with The Legal Fundamentals of Hiring E-Book.

For starters, who are you hiring? If you are hiring an intern, you will need either an intern or extern agreement. (You may also find an in-depth guide to creating an internship & externship program on our blog.)

Hiring a VA or Contractor? You’ll need a Virtual Assistant Agreement or Independent Contractor Agreement.

Hiring an employee? You will need an Employment Agreement.

Each of these templates contains a confidentiality provision, but if you want additional nondisclosure/non-compete language, you may also need the NDA template.

Will the contract I create cover me in (insert state or country of your choosing)?

Paige Hulse is a licensed attorney in Oklahoma, and is not ethically permitted to speak to laws in other states or countries.

From Paige, “However, what I do tell customers from around the country is that while I can't speak to the specifications of your laws, I can tell you that starting with a template for an attorney in your jurisdiction to review will be much quicker (i.e. cheaper) than having that attorney start from scratch with drafting a custom contract. In addition, the templates are drafted in conjunction with a professional in each respective industry (i.e., a wedding planner for the wedding planning contract, etc), so the templates have more industry-specific provisions than a lawyer unfamiliar with your creative industry could draft.”

We have quite a number of non-US residents purchase from the shop! We have happy customers who use our templates in their businesses in Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Germany, France, Ireland, Sweden, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Turkey, El Salvador and the Philippines!

What happens if I have questions about my contract?

While each of the Creative Law Shop® contracts comes with directions, we completely understand that you may have further questions! However, we operate our business with ethics, integrity, and compliance with the industry’s laws above all else. We will not be dispensing legal advice. If you are not sure what is a “legal” question, our team will let you know what we can assist with and what you need to ask an attorney in your state. The need for the Creative Law Shop®, in general, arose because our founder Paige Hulse knew, from personal experience owning a calligraphy business, that there can be a disconnect between creative/wedding professionals, and attorneys (most attorneys still aren’t quite sure what creatives “do”!). If you have state-specific questions about your contract, we encourage you to reach out to an attorney in your state.

Do you offer 1:1 legal work?

Based upon the bar's ethical considerations we cannot dispense legal advice via email or other forms of communication via the shop.

Our shop attorney Paige Hulse also runs her own law firm however where she takes clients on 1:1 for custom legal work. In her practice she often helps clients with the following:

• Due Diligence Searches

• Trademark Registrations

• Business Services (Formations, Restructurings and more)

• Business & Estate Planning

If you are interested in one of the aforementioned services, please reach out to Paige Hulse Law here!