Protecting Your Business

I know what you may be asking... What is this post doing on this paranormal blog? As with anything business oriented, it is best to protect yourself and your endeavors as much as possible.

First off, let me say that there are many loop holes on the business end of the paranormal field. Protecting your name, services and personal assets need to be considered at all times. Am I just being paranoid? No. Absolutely not. I am just being cautious.

So, what can you do to protect your self? Well, are you on a paranormal team? Is your name trademarked? You may want to consider this ASAP. All it would take would be someone else to come along and do so. Once they get the trademark, they could request your refusal to use it. Like on services such as YouTube, Google, Amazon, Twitter, etc. Sure. You may be able to prove that you have been using the name for a while, but does that trump an official federal trademark?

Let's say you want to go with a trademark... Which one do you choose? Well, that is up to you really. You can file a domestic or international request. At the time of this post, the basics can range from around $300 to much higher.

The process to file a trademark is long and tedious. You have to stay on top of it at all times. It goes through a systematic order to get to what will help cover you. The ultimate goal I believe is a Registration Certificate. This allows you to sell services, merchandise with your name on it without someone infringing on you. This certificate is what will be requested of you if you decide someone else is using your name/logo without your permission.

What else can you do to protect yourself? Form an LLC. At the time of this post in the State of New Jersey, it costs around $125 to form one. Why is this important? This is put in place to protect your personal assets is case of a lawsuit. You do not need to put the "LLC" at the end of your name if you do not want to here in certain states I believe, but it will help cover you.

Another protective method is having release forms on hand. Forms that can be scalable under different circumstances. Are you doing an event? Have attendees sign the form. Conducting an investigation at a residence? The client needs to fill out and accept certain conditions.

The goal of this post is to show you that there are people out there that can hurt you financially or slander your name that you have laid claim to. Not everything I posted here will protect you 100%, but at least it's a start to covering your business.

DISCLAIMER: Please keep in mind also, I am not a lawyer. Note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on.