While I may be busy putting the final touches on Volume 2 of “What Businesses Need to Know Right Now,” – I could not be more thrilled that Johns Hopkins University has invited me to discuss Volume 1.

On Friday, October 15th at 12 NOON ET, I will be sharing much of the great advice that came from interviewing over 40 experts during the pandemic. This book covers strategy, diversity, finance, communication, mindset, and more! And with so many experts contributing, it contains knowledge that was not only useful during the first six months of the pandemic but is essential now, too.

This event will take place via Zoom, and you can register by going to: https://events.jhu.edu/form/nettieowens
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​What is the difference between a trademark, copyright, patent, and trade secret?

They all fall under the umbrella of intellectual property. Most people refer to that as IP.

Trademarks protect elements of your brand. So, when you think of your brand, you think of your business name. Maybe you’re doing business as your name; maybe it’s a product or service name, logo, tagline – those are all things that trademarks can protect.

Copyright protects your content – all of the content that you are floating out into the world. For example, this video is protected by copyright. Blogs that you write, training manuals you create, photographs – any content protected by copyright.

Then you have trade secrets that protect anything that’s meant to be kept a secret. This might include a special business process, formula, or recipe – any of those things would be protected as a trade secret.

And then lastly, patents protect inventions.

“You’ve probably heard these terms before, but that’s a clean and concise definition of each of them.”

A lot of business owners mistakenly believe that they automatically own their business name just because they filed for an LLC or corporation with the state or because they got the domain names or the social media handles – and that’s a misconception.

The reality is that a US federal trademark registration is necessary to establish exclusive legal rights and protection in the names that you are actually doing business as. Therefore, it is important to secure trademarks with the US Patent and Trademark Office to legally establish ownership in the names you’re building your business on.

As for copyright, that sticks automatically. But there are benefits to securing a copyright registration from the US Copyright Office – especially when it comes to having to enforce those rights. Registration is necessary, and it’s a prerequisite to any litigation or enforcement matters.

As for patents, you can only secure a patent from the US Patent Office, so that’s a formal.

And then trade secrets are protected through contract. You protect your secret by keeping it a secret – so only sharing with people on a need-to-know basis. For those with whom you are sharing, make sure you have the right contracts in place to ensure that it’s not leaked out and remains confidential.

“Have you found yourself to be laissez-faire about any of these things? If so, it might be time to legally protect you, your business, and your intellectual property.”

What can you actually trademark?

Trademarks can protect anything that’s meant to serve as a source identifier. And what I mean by that is that when your prospective clients and customers see your name out there or see a course name or see that you’re doing a podcast, you want them to automatically associate that with you. You don’t want it associated with your competitors.

A trademark gives you the exclusive legal right to use that name in your industry. So, you’d want to protect things such as your business name, your doing business as name, the name of your podcast, the name of your blog, or the name of an event you’re doing.

Maybe you’re doing an annual conference or event, and that’s something that you would want to protect with trademarks. If there’s a tagline you’re using or a logo you’re using, those are other things. If you’re writing a book series, that’s something else that you would want to trademark as well to ensure that you have protection.

I did it for my book series, “Like a Boss.” And I also copyrighted “Like a Boss” for another series that I am working on. So you want to protect those things to make sure that when people see that name, see that brand, they think of you and not your competitors.

When’s the best time to start the trademark process?

Ideally, you want to start it before you adopt a name – before you start using it. You can start the trademark process before you even start using a name. It’s called an intent to use trademark application. The best time to do it is before you adopt it. This allows you to do your research, do your trademark search, and make sure there are no issues or conflicts that you could run into before starting the trademark process. So I would say that’s the most important time to do it.

The reality is business owners don’t do it until after the fact. First, they want to see the concept work. So, they want to see if they make money, and then they want to protect their IP.

Other times, in addition to before you actually adopt the use of a name or logo, you definitely need to protect your trademarks before you license. You can’t license anything that you don’t own. So, for example, if you’re a course creator, or have some kind of mastermind program, and you’re sharing content, you want to make sure that you have IP ownership before licensing.

Also, for any brand extension, for instance, maybe you started doing one-on-one services, and now you want to expand it into doing something else. That’s another time where you’d want to make sure that the trademark that you want to expand into this new territory is available for you and not infringing.

Also, if you want to expand geographically. Let’s say you’re a local business, and now you want a more nationwide presence, or maybe more of an international presence – that’s when you would want to consider the trademark process.

And lastly, before you start hiring anyone. If you start as a solopreneur and now, you’re hiring independent contractors or employees, that’s a time when you want to protect yourself. You don’t want to allow for the opportunity for anyone who’s working for you to claim intellectual property rights to the content you’ve created.

There have been record-breaking numbers for trademark filings with the US Patent and Trademark Office. 2020 was a record-breaking year. What’s important about that is that people are starting to recognize the importance and value of trademarks. They’re investing in their trademarks. It shows that economic trends are going up – so that’s a good thing.

I think this is happening because trademarks have become more mainstream in popular culture. Now you can read a news article or watch Entertainment Tonight, and they’re talking about trademark disputes or trademark issues. It’s become more of a buzzword. People now recognize it.

The reality is that all businesses have trademarks – but there’s only value if they’re protected.

3 Action Steps

1. Understand that just because you filed for an LLC, web domains, or social media handles, that you do not automatically own your business name.
2. Trademark anything that’s meant to serve as a source identifier for your business.
3. Start the trademark process as soon as possible in order to protect you and your business.

Connect with Radiance Harris on LinkedIn.

Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​What are two words that you just dread hearing? Could it be some of these?

· Taxes Due

· Fake News

· I Can’t

· Too Late

· Strategic Planning

Well, you’ve still got a few months until taxes due needs to be uttered.
Here’s hoping that fake news is on the decline.

And I’ve got to agree with you on I can’t and too late – nobody likes to hear those words.

But I’m going to wholeheartedly disagree with you on strategic planning.
Yes, I’m one of those people who loves a good strategic planning session and thinks that having a strategic plan is vital to your business.

The Balanced Scorecard Institute defines strategic planning as: an organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations, ensure that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals, establish agreement around intended outcomes/results, and assess and adjust the organization’s direction in response to a changing environment. It is a disciplined effort that produces fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Effective strategic planning articulates not only where an organization is going and the actions needed to make progress, but also how it will know if it is successful.

Can you see the smile on my face? I LOVE reading that! There are so many powerful words in there!

Because despite what you may think about strategic planning – that it’s boring, that it’s futile, that it’s a waste of time, that it’s difficult – the one thing you need to keep in mind is that it’s TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Do you want to know why?

Because with a strategic plan in place, you:

1. Reflect on what worked/didn’t work in the past as a means to move forward

2. Recognize changes that are happening within your business and the industry

3. Decide where you want to focus your time, money, and effort to grow your business

4. Set goals and objectives that can be measured and attained

5. Know your company’s strengths and weaknesses

6. Look for opportunities

7. Accelerate your growth

8. Give employees a sense of security

9. Increase profitability

10. Improve communication

11. Establish a framework to get you where you want to be

I could keep going, but I’ll stop there – because if you can’t see how strategic planning benefits you with that list alone – well, there’s probably no changing your mind.

Now, of course, an excellent strategic plan takes some effort – but don’t let that scare you off from putting pen to paper or opening up a Word document or LucidChart and getting started. Taking the time to reflect on your business and giving yourself the time to work on how you want to make it flourish is all part of being a business owner – and it’s IMPORTANT.

So, can I see a show of hands of who has a strategic plan in place?

Okay, who has one – but hasn’t looked at it in a loooooooong while?

I appreciate the honesty, but once again, I’m going to implore you to get a strategic plan in place! It’s truly one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself and your business! And if you need help with it, schedule a call with me – and we can see where you’re at in the process (even if it’s at the very beginning)!
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Please comment below. I would love to hear from.

Using your psychology expertise, what do businesses need to know right now?

There’s a growing trend in focusing on employee experience and customer experience. There is a very psychological aspect to think about how someone feels when engaging with your company.

Although, this has been turned more into another KPI, another metric – like a checkoff list. You say, “Okay, we asked them, and now we can move on.” The missing piece, though, is that as a psychologist, yes, we assess, do observations, talk to our clients and our patients to understand how they’re feeling, but there’s also an intervention piece.

This is where we take some kind of methodology or framework, and we see how we can make that work for that person or give them the results they’re looking for or help them grow and develop in some way.

I think there’s a missing piece in the leadership’s ability within an organization to intervene effectively and to communicate with their employees beyond simply spitting out what you know and saying, “Hey, this was your experience. I heard you.” But how do you actually take that information and go beyond, again, some change manager saying, “Hey, look, we did this. We changed this for you. We gave you a raise.”?

How do you then nurture that relationship? How do you then talk with your employees to continue to help them grow? How do you help coach them and develop them? Again, you want to go beyond the very high-level tip of the iceberg experience.

What would you recommend to make the shift to focusing on the customer or employee experience effective?

Some of it comes from hiring the right leaders. You need those interacting with that employee daily to act as that resource or open the door to engage with them, mentor them, and coach them.

I’ve found that as a consultant and as a psychologist who goes into companies and speaks on experience and helps them facilitate those kinds of conversations, it’s not something happening internally.

They have to find an external consultant to do it because the leaders they have are only looking at performance metrics, ROI, and how much this person can produce in a period of time. And even though they know they’ve seen the employee engagement survey a million times and see that there are challenges, they don’t know how to do anything about it.

It starts with within your organization and your hiring of leaders – and what do you actually mean. A leader does not have to be a manager. A leader can have no authority whatsoever and still have influence. There needs to be training and facilitating certain types of guidance on how you should lead and how do you then improve the experience through leadership.

“Have you looked for outside resources to help you understand the experience you want for your employees or your customers? Bringing in a consultant allows for another set of eyes that can help you figure out how to put all these pieces together.”

For the past couple of years, we have seen this growing trend in employee experience, DEI and transformation – and all of this data is being collected. There’s proof that there is a problem, impacting productivity and impacting retention. So, therefore, there is proof that it affects the bottom line.

However, beyond simply knowing it’s a problem, very few are able to say, “Hey, yes, we’ve intervened, we’ve done X, Y, and Z. In the long-term, it’s going to improve equity, and our employees have a consensus here that their experience has been improved.” So aside from maybe picking a few poster children in your company and saying, “Hey, say this on TV,” it’s not something that we can really validate.

We have all these people saying, “We believe in DEI. We have rainbow logos. We post about Black Lives Matter. That means our employees are happy.” But then it turns out when an employee speaks, that’s actually not the truth. Employees don’t feel that diversity, equity, and inclusion – that’s not their experience with the company. So those are the challenges that we’re having.

So, you’re saying no more performative measures?

Exactly. We’re beyond that point. No more assessments. We get it. We know there’s a problem. The exception for assessment is to target a very specific problem and to understand it more. The problem can be very high level. For example, there’s an inclusion problem. Yes, then go in and maybe do some more investigation to understand the pain points, understand the roles and impacts – that’s fine.

Of course, I’m a researcher, so I’m never against that. But go beyond that. You have to start acting on it. So, create action plans, and the consultant can help you do that because that person is an expert in that area. A manager is focusing on a million and one things. Me as a consultant, I know this. I wrote a dissertation on it. I’ve got a DBA in. I studied this. I know that I am able to come in and intervene objectively. So, bring those people in if you need to, and then be willing to provide the resources and the budget to implement change.

If a manager or organization was to make one change, what would you recommend?

I would say engage with your employees early and often. Don’t wait until a problem happens and then begin to start scrambling. Engage with them in meetings. Hear them out. Have an open forum to understand some of the challenges and be proactive as far as interventions. Be proactive as far as how you communicate with them.

Just drill back to a sense of community. Community is not just “we all have to be here because we’re getting paid.” Community is a shared culture, a shared belief, and it’s a sense that this person brings value to me, and I bring value to them. Make sure that you’re engaging with that again, as often as possible.

“This really ties back to that sense of belonging. People will stay in a position because they feel like they belong.”

3 Action Steps

1. Do not turn the employee experience into another KPI that just gets checked off.
2. Resist performative measures and instead implement meaningful change for your employees.
3. Engage with your employees often, and don’t wait for problems to arise.

Connect with Diem Mooney on LinkedIn.

Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​On Thursday, everyone was introduced (or reintroduced) to Sensei Victoria Whitfield, who is one of my wonderful co-hosts (along with Brian Rassi of Enstigate) at Momentum Live: The CEO Experience next week.

Sensei Victoria offers some incredible retreats that allow you to reconnect with your vision and your mindset – and you’ll find them all incredibly valuable as a way to bring the focus back to your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

And couldn’t we all use a little more of that?

Do you know what else we could use a little more of in our lives?

Rest.

No, I’m not talking about physical rest – although we all may need that, too.

But I’m talking about rest for our brains.

LOTS of research has been done to show what benefits come from giving our brains a rest – things like:

· Better memory

· Improved attention span

· Increased productivity

· More creativity

· Improved mood

· Less burnout

· Decreased stress

If those benefits aren’t enough to convince you – I don’t know what is.

If you’re sitting there and thinking to yourself, “This is all well and good, Nettie, but what does resting my brain look like – and when exactly am I going to do it?” – then I want to help.

Yes, resting your brain does include the sleep you get at night, but studies from the NIH have shown that “wakeful rest” is just as important. And wakeful rest happens when you slow your activity – and spend some time meditating, unitasking, or simply being in the moment.

I read a statistic from Dr. Gayatri Devi (via Healthline) where she said, “The brain is the most energy-hungry organ in our body, consuming nearly a third of our energy.”

WHOA! That’s a lot of energy – and if it’s not being replenished, you’re doing it a great disservice.

Those of you who meditate are most likely giving your brain the rest it needs. But if meditation is not your thing – what should you do?

Think about “unitasking.”

And unitask things not related to your business.

· How about pulling weeds?

· Doing some gentle stretching?

· Going outdoors and soaking up some sun – or jumping in a puddle?

· Sitting still and exploring your senses?

· Journaling?

These are all examples of small things you can do daily that will help to calm and quiet your brain – giving it time to replenish its energy so you can tackle those big goals.

Last week we talked about the importance of fun…and this week it’s the importance of rest – and they both have their place! (And maybe you can even make rest fun!? Who knows!)

But this week – say, “Yes!” to resting your brain. Your brain and your business will thank you!
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Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​While we are not yet out of the woods with COVID, many of us are returning to the office and beginning to conduct “business as usual” or trying to find a semblance of normal (if either of those things really exists anymore).

With those things in mind, I’m thrilled to announce that John Hopkins University will be having a panel discussion entitled: Women & Work: COVID’s Impact and the Return to the Office on October 8th @ 12 PM ET.
During this hour together, we will discuss how the pandemic has impacted women in the workforce, how to manage the return to work, the professional and emotional perspectives we are experiencing, and the effects of returning to the office.

I will be one of the speakers, along with Monica Kang (Founder and CEO, InnovatorsBox®, Author, Rethink Creativity), Jane Sandback, Ed.D. (Founder and CEO, Jane Sandbank Group), Dana Iserson (Founder, Total Rebrand), and our moderator, Tessa McKenzie (Assistant Director, Life Design Lab, Johns Hopkins University). You can see that this is an exceptional group to discuss the challenges that working women are facing with COVID, and I would love for you to join us on Friday, October 8th.

You can register by going to: https://events.jhu.edu/form/womenandwork

Feel free to forward this email to anyone who may be interested in this topic.
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Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​What can business owners learn from the global community about economics, the pandemic, social unrest, etc.?

It’s a very diverse picture out there at the moment. This is one of the few things in the world which everyone is experiencing at the same time. So, there are common lessons across the board.

One of the lessons I’ve learned is that adversity is actually the necessity of change. And the one thing about business and what we’re really, really good at is adapting. We are able to reposition ourselves and still be able to thrive. So, as business owners, we’re exceptionally hard to kill off.

How many are more things going to be thrown in our direction? But we are still able to adapt, overcome, and reposition. Hey, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows – I know that. But adversity is one of the big things which has really accelerated a lot of growth.

“This interview series was birthed out of the adversity of the pandemic – really just trying to share that while there’s a lot going on, and sometimes it can feel overwhelming, we can whittle it down to just the things you need to know about right now.”

It’s like the classic new year resolution when it comes to businesses still being enthusiastic about adapting and changing. You’re all hot, and you’re ready to go. And then, by mid-January, if you joined a gym, and before all this kicked off, you’d not be attending now.

I do feel it’s a war of attrition. But this is a battle, not a war. There is life after this. And the people who can stand up now and are preparing to become an expert in their area, positioning themselves to take advantage in the future, I think will emerge stronger.

We are not the same people now coming out of this as we went into it.

Also, there’s quite a lot of stuff we didn’t want to run back to – the long commute, the silly hours at work, the non-work-life balance. It wasn’t perfect to start with, but there are lessons that we can take forward, which will, I believe, make the business even stronger.

What’s one thing we need in business now?

If anything, this has shown us the compassion that is now needed, not just for your employees, but for you, as leaders. You need somebody.

Because you’re standing there and you’re picking up all the pieces, you need a support network yourself because you can’t fall over. Because there are people depending on you. Your customers are different now than when they went in. And you need to be able to make that connection with them.

And communities are so important. And I really believe it’s now a cultural leadership that actually blends both the heart, which is passion, and the mind, which is the measurable left brain – but don’t forget the right brain. And I believe that they’ve come closer together than anything before. And being authentic as a business owner is really going to hit the right temperament, and we have to be the right barometer of what’s going on.

“Being authentic not just in what you’re doing, but how you’re doing it and how you’re telling people about it is extremely important now. Businesses tend to want to show how they’re handling the pandemic or how they’re handling social injustice or economic crisis in their marketing. But when we don’t follow through with our actions, people see it. And they know they can take their dollars elsewhere, and they are calling businesses out.”

It is now a consumer market. And I believe that business is a people’s game. People will do business with people they like, period. And if you can be like that, and you can respond exactly to what they’re talking about and get on the same wavelength that will interrupt the conversation they’re having already in their heads, you’re going to have to try really hard to screw that up.

There’s always going to be adversity – and what do you think we can build and learn from over the next several years?

I believe that where we are with the pandemic, we haven’t even begun to see the impact of the mental side. And I believe that’s an area no one’s talking about. And it’s no good to say, “Oh, well, I’m going to give it up now.”

We need to be ready because the private sector is going to pick this up – not the public sector. So we, as business owners, need to be ready for this huge flood of people who are going to need our help at some point.

I’m part of a really good team called the Core Mentors Association, which is basically a group of business coaches, coaches across the board, which can help you if needed.

3 Action Steps

1. Use adversity to adapt, overcome, and reposition you and your business as an expert in your specific area.
2. Show compassion to yourself as a business leader and create a support network for yourself.
3. Be ready as a business owner to help others who will need assistance when the pandemic is over.

Connect with Paul Rogers on LinkedIn.
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Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​If you’ve been to Momentum Live, you’ve had the pleasure of meeting the wildly wonderful Sensei Victoria Whitfield.

And if you haven’t been to Momentum Live…today’s the day to meet this incredible woman – because she (along with Brian Rassi of Enstigate) – will be one of the co-hosts for the upcoming Momentum Live: The CEO Experience taking place in Havre de Grace.

What I love about Sensei Victoria is that she’s there to make sure we, as business owners, are always looking after our physical and mental health. She wants us to be successful, and we are most successful when our physical, mental, and emotional well-being are aligned. And, as you know, all too often, we let those things slide as we work to attain our goals. Not only that, we stop listening to ourselves, our natural intuition.

But we can’t do that.

Taking care of those needs is imperative – as is tapping and using our inner compass.

If you find that you need to bring your focus back to you so that your business can grow – then you’ve got to see what she has planned for retreats! She’s offering 2-day and 3-day retreats (either in-person or via ZOOM) that will have you bringing your mindset and vision to where it needs to be.

Trust me…while it may feel strange to focus on yourself and your well-being to grow your business – I promise that with this attention to your mindset and vision – you become unstoppable! And who doesn’t want to bring that to their business?
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Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​I have a question for you today: When was the last time you had fun?

I’m not talking about hours of non-stop laughs at a comedy club or a night with popcorn and a good rom-com – although it could be those things.

But when was the last time you moved your body with a nice walk?

Or spent the afternoon playing soccer with your children?

Or enjoyed a day out with your significant other doing something you both love?

Because taking time for yourself – and for your family and friends – is FUN!

You NEED to pause your brain.

You NEED to pause social media.

You NEED to pause the daily grind.

It is truly a need…not just a want.

And today…yes, TODAY…I challenge you to have fun!

Now it’s a Saturday – and that means I want you to go all in! I’m not talking about 5 minutes of fun. Not even 15 minutes of fun. I want you to go and have at least 30 minutes of fun – doing something that makes you happy.

· Reading a good book

· Eating a nice meal

· Spending time outdoors

· Taking a yoga class

· Listening to your favorite music really loud

Whatever it may be – just do it! (Yes, you can use this as an excuse to not clean the house or any other chores that are on your list!)

And then I want you to continue to have 30 minutes of fun EVERY DAY this week.

That might mean taking 30 minutes off in the middle of your day or stopping work 30 minutes early – but make a commitment to me…NO! Scratch that! MAKE A COMMITMENT TO YOURSELF that you’re going to have fun!

Because it’s genuinely going to make you and your business better. You’re going to see improved productivity and better results. You’re going to find you’re more focused and that your mindset is where you want it…because fun is essential.
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Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​The magic number is 50.

50 amazing experts.

50 informative and educational interviews.

50 takeaways to help you and your business.

50 new connections for you to make.

And it’s all coming at you in ONE new book!

Yes, that’s right – “What Businesses Need to Know Right Now – Volume 2” is available for pre-order!

It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating the release of Volume 1 – and we were! But with so many fantastic entrepreneurs and executives – who so graciously gave of their time – it meant that a second book was a must!

This second volume covers everything from lead magnets to guest speaking to setting boundaries to the user experience – and so much more. The interviews are engaging, relevant, and provide you with so much information!

You can pre-order your copy today – and have this great resource as soon as it’s released this fall!

As always, I appreciate your support of this project!
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