13 ideas for protecting yourself from being ripped off

Someone posted in a Facebook group recently that he thinks he's been ripped off. He was pretty sure that someone who had attended a training course of his had taken his materials and then run the training in their school. So, what can you do to lessen the chance of something like this happening to you?

Here are my thoughts on the matter. Please bear in mind these are my personal opinions, and I'm not giving advice, legal or otherwise. But I hope you find the points worth thinking about.

The full article was originally published in my newsletter, Digital Education. If you don't wish to wait for this full series to to run, sign up using the form below or, if it does not appear (it's a timed pop-up) click here. Answer the email to confirm your wish to subscribe, and read the edition of 20th July 2017.

If a statement is not feasible...

In the previous article in this series, I suggested that if drawing up a contract seems like overkill, think about drawing up a short statement instead.

But what if even that seem 'over the top'?

If even that is not appropriate, at the very least have an email conversation setting out an agreement. I don't know if this has the same status as a formal contract, but I do know that it has stood me in good stead a couple of times. For example, one company told me verbally that when I send my invoice, not to put down my expenses as they don't pay them. I dug out an email exchange in which I'd stated my fee and included the words "Plus expenses", and to which they'd replied "Fine". My expenses were paid.

Tomorrow: an easy way to further protect your intellectual property.