Are you leaving your business legally exposed without even realizing it?

In this episode of The Legal Jim Podcast, Business and Trademark Attorney Jim Hart shares the 5 essential steps every entrepreneur needs to protect their business — from choosing the right structure, to using contracts, registering trademarks, staying compliant, and making sure your website has the right legal documents.

Simple, practical tips to help you run your business with confidence.

For more information about the tools and resources discussed in this episode, please visit: https://onestoplegal.co/legally-protect-your-small-business/

Interested in protecting your trademark? Visit https://hawthornlaw.net for more information and to schedule a free call with our team.

Starting a business is exciting… until you hit the wall of paperwork, confusing requirements, and government websites that make zero sense.

In this episode, I share a personal story from when I first launched my law firm—and how, even as a licensed attorney, I struggled to figure out how to get everything set up the right way.

Now, there’s a tool that can help first-time entrepreneurs avoid those same mistakes.

It’s called Velo, an AI assistant from ZenBusiness that walks you through the business formation process, finds the licenses you need, tracks your compliance deadlines, and even builds your website—no legal degree or tech skills required.

If you’ve been putting off launching your business because the admin side feels overwhelming, this episode is your roadmap forward.

🔗 Links Mentioned:

Learn more about Velo: hawthornlaw.net/velo

Are you running your online business without a solid legal foundation?

In this episode, James Hart—trademark lawyer and founder of The Hart Law Firm and One Stop Legal—breaks down the essential legal templates every entrepreneur needs.

From client contracts to website policies, refund clauses to independent contractor agreements, James shares how to stay legally protected without the hefty legal bill.

You’ll also learn how to use these templates properly, what mistakes to avoid (like copying free contracts from the internet), and where to find templates that are actually worth your time.

🔗 Grab your templates at https://onestoplegal.co

For all the tools and resources mentioned in this episode, head over to https://onestoplegal.co/59

Are you thinking about using ChatGPT to write your legal contracts? You might want to think twice.

In this episode, I’m breaking down five key reasons why AI tools like ChatGPT, CoPilot, or Claude aren’t a safe substitute for real legal advice—especially when it comes to drafting your contracts.

From missing clauses to a false sense of security, I’ll walk you through the real risks of relying on AI for legal work and explain what you should do instead.

Whether you're launching a new business or tightening up your legal foundation, this episode will help you make smarter, safer decisions when it comes to protecting your brand.

Show notes and resources: https://onestoplegal.co/58

When Google shut down my ads years ago, I was shocked — all because my website didn’t have a privacy policy. That experience taught me a valuable lesson about the legal foundations every online business needs.

In this episode, I share the 4 essential contracts your website must have to stay compliant, build trust, and avoid costly mistakes — including the exact legal page that triggered Google’s shutdown.

Whether you're launching your first site or tightening up an existing one, this is a must-listen.

🔗 Show notes & resources: https://onestoplegal.co/57

In this episode of The Legal Jim, we interview Alexandra Watkins about what makes a great name for your business, as well as how to avoid a bad name.

We talk about her signature SMILE and SCRATCH methods for picking amazing and memorable brand names. Don’t miss this episode!

Check out Eat My Words.

Follow Alexandra Watkins on Linked In.

Would you like to work with Jim on a deeper level? Schedule a strategy call and learn how we can help you to protect your online brand. Join our monthly membership to connect with other incredible entrepreneurs. Here are some legal templates you can plug into your business.

To get on the waiting list for our new legal training visit hawthornlaw.net/trademark.

When and why should you use a virtual business address for your LLC?

In today’s episode of The Legal Jim, we will be reviewing all of the ins and outs that come with virtual addresses, including what they are, the main benefits of using a virtual address, and the limitations of virtual addresses (i.e. what they should NOT be used for).

Would you like to work with Jim on a deeper level? Click here to schedule a strategy call and learn how we can help you to protect your online brand. (https://hawthornlaw.net/) If you are an aspiring entrepreneur ready to join our membership now, click here. (https://www.hawthornlaw.net/membership) If you need some legal templates for your online business, click here. (https://onestoplegal.co/) If you are looking for a lawyer to help you with the legal aspects of your online business, click here (https://www.hawthornlaw.net/services/) If you are interested in learning more about building and online brand and making sure it is legally protected, click here to schedule a strategy call and get started today. (https://hawthornlaw.net/) To learn more about why it is important to trademark your name, click here. (https://hawthornlaw.net/tm-video) To get on the waiting list for our new legal training, click here.(https://hawthornlaw.net/trademark)

In my law firm I have developed a special process to help online entrepreneurs register and protect their trademarks as quickly and easily as possible. I call it the 4R Framework.

In today’s episode I break down the four main areas of this framework to help you understand everything you need to know to get your trademarks protected as quickly as possible.

Would you like to work with Jim on a deeper level? Click here to schedule a strategy call and learn how we can help you to protect your online brand. (https://hawthornlaw.net/) If you are an aspiring entrepreneur ready to join our membership now, click here. (https://www.hawthornlaw.net/membership) If you need some legal templates for your online business, click here. (https://onestoplegal.co/) If you are looking for a lawyer to help you with the legal aspects of your online business, click here (https://www.hawthornlaw.net/services/) If you are interested in learning more about building and online brand and making sure it is legally protected, click here to schedule a strategy call and get started today. (https://hawthornlaw.net/) To learn more about why it is important to trademark your name, click here. (https://hawthornlaw.net/tm-video) To get on the waiting list for our new legal training, click here.(https://hawthornlaw.net/trademark)

So you’ve picked an amazing name for your business, and you want to make sure it is protected by filing a trademark application. But hold your horses - before you run out and spend a lot of money filing an application with the USPTO, you must make sure nobody else is using your chosen trademark.

In today’s episode, I will walk you through step-by-step how to do a proper search of USPTO database, as well as a common law search to make sure your name is safe to move forward with.

Would you like to work with Jim on a deeper level? Click here to schedule a strategy call and learn how we can help you to protect your online brand. (https://hawthornlaw.net/) If you are an aspiring entrepreneur ready to join our membership now, click here. (https://www.hawthornlaw.net/membership) If you need some legal templates for your online business, click here. (https://onestoplegal.co/) If you are looking for a lawyer to help you with the legal aspects of your online business, click here (https://www.hawthornlaw.net/services/) If you are interested in learning more about building and online brand and making sure it is legally protected, click here to schedule a strategy call and get started today. (https://hawthornlaw.net/) To learn more about why it is important to trademark your name, click here. (https://hawthornlaw.net/tm-video) To get on the waiting list for our new legal training, click here.(https://hawthornlaw.net/trademark)

If you are wondering how to get a trademark, it all starts with your name.

In today’s podcast episode, we will be talking about how to pick the best trademark name to maximize the likelihood that you will ultimately get the trademark.

Would you like to work with Jim on a deeper level? 

Click here to schedule a strategy call and learn how we can help you to protect your online brand. (https://hawthornlaw.net/)

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur ready to join our membership now, click here. (https://www.hawthornlaw.net/membership)

If you need some legal templates for your online business, click here. (https://onestoplegal.co/)

If you are looking for a lawyer to help you with the legal aspects of your online business, click here (https://www.hawthornlaw.net/services/)

If you are interested in learning more about building and online brand and making sure it is legally protected, click here to schedule a strategy call and get started today. (https://hawthornlaw.net/)

To learn more about why it is important to trademark your name, click here. (https://hawthornlaw.net/tm-video)

To get on the waiting list for our new legal training, click here.(https://hawthornlaw.net/trademark)