PODCAST – The Trademark Process 101 w/Chandler J. Esq.

About this episode: 

 I am so excited for you to tune into this episode because today I sit down with an expert who fills us in on absolutely everything that you need to know about the trademark process. 

Despite the common misconception, trademarking is CRUCIAL at all levels of business. And the upside is, no matter how intimidating the trademark process may seem, anyone can complete the steps with the right legal guidance. 

BONUS POINTS: you don’t even need to be a lawyer to file a trademark application.

And in this episode, you’ll learn exactly how to go from point A to point B with as little stress as possible!

Today I chat with Chandler J. Esq., who is a lawyer, entrepreneur, educator, and also a phenomenal community builder. Chandler helps entrepreneurs to implement a strong legal foundation for their business so you actually own your shit and can confidently scale and grow in a stress-free way.

In this episode, we discuss…

• How Chandler got started in her law career and how she later became a trademark lawyer (2:40).
• Even if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar business, THESE laws still apply to you! (4:14).
• Why you need to own your brand in order to have the freedom you want from owning a business (8:14).
• Rapid-fire true or false questions – the trademark edition (13:41).
  • T/F – If I have an LLC that means I own my brand.
  • T/F – What is the best way to sign contracts so you are protected by your LLC?
  • T/F – I own my brand if I filed for a tradename or DBA
  • T/F – If I have a domain name, or if I own the name on social media, it means that I own my brand
  • T/F – If I run a brand for many years, it means I own the brand
• The steps to take to ensure you avoid a legal suit before you launch a brand (18:45).
• Low risk vs. high-risk marks in the trademark process (20:45).
• How to create a STRONG brand name (21:34).
• Why “classes” are important for avoiding consumer confusion in the trademark process (23:18).
• Additional benefits of the trademark process (27:28).
  • Intellectual property
  • Builds your reputation and recognition
  • Conveys authority 
  • Double the revenue growth 
• How to confidently trademark your own brand with the Asset Protection Program – aka DIY trademarking (30:12).
• Why you should file for an LLC and how to make it stress-free (37:00).
• Chandler’s arsenal of DIY contracts/agreements and bundles to protect your business (37:39).
• What is Naughtypreneur and who it’s for (39:15).

Meet the Host and Guest Expert 

Links and Resources

Connect with Chandler

• @lawyerchandlerj
• @naughtypreneur
• https://chandlerjesq.com/

Resources mentioned in this episode

• Use code “WILDWOMN” to get $20 off all products 
  • DIY Contract Templates
  • Asset Protection Program
  • LLC in 1,2,3 

Click here to listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts!

Want us to send you a gift? Leave a rating and/or review on Apple Podcasts, and send a screenshot to podcast@wildwomnhaus.com. 

Looking for more info on taking your brand to the next level? Check out these suggested blogs!

• How to Influence Brand Perception – The 5 Fundamentals to Master
• Brand Launch Messaging – How to Absolutely Crush Yours
• Brand Differentiation Questions – Our Epic Cheat Sheet

Audio Transcript

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

Hello, you have reached the Wild Womn Haus hotline, a place for visionary entrepreneurs like you to listen in on value, packed episodes for growing your brand in bold and strategic ways. Wild Womn fam, what is up? I am so excited for you to tune into this episode because today I am just gonna call this episode absolutely everything that you need to know about trademarks. And I am so excited to have this conversation with our guests today, but first. If you do not know me and you have not listened to the hotline before. Hello, my name is Tristan Thibodeau. I am the CEO, founder, and lead brand strategist at Wild Womn Haus, which is an all-inclusive, collaborative branding and marketing agency for female and female-identifying entrepreneurs.

Introducing Chandler

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

Today like I mentioned, we are talking about all things trademark and I have perfect like the epitome of the perfect guest on today. And she is the baddest bitch, lawyer in all the land, Chandler J Esquire, who is a trademark lawyer.

So Chandler is a lawyer and entrepreneur and educator, and also a phenomenal community builder. But what she does best is that she helps entrepreneurs to implement a strong legal foundation for your business so you actually own your shit and can confidently scale and grow your business in a stress free way.

Hot Topics

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

So we talk all about brand ownership, contracts, how to protect your business, how to stay in CEO mode. And this conversation is relevant for every single person listening, who has a business, or is thinking of starting a business, even if you already have an existing brand, but you are not trademarked. Listen in. If you are starting a brand and you are in the process of choosing a brand name. You need to pay attention.

So with no further ado, I am so excited to introduce you to Chandler, the most badass lawyer that I know ever in all existence of all times. So let’s dive into this episode with Chandler J Esquire, trademark, lawyer. All right. Chandler, the baddest baddy lawyer in all the lands. Thank you so much for coming on because. This is such a timely topic. I talk about it with literally all of my clients and that is trademarking. So we’re gonna have a deep, deep conversation. Everybody listening about trademarking, how it works, why you need it, myths and misconceptions, like everything under the sun. But first, can you tell us your backstory of how you got into law and then how you pivoted into supporting entrepreneurs with trademarking and owning their brands?

How Chandler became a trademark lawyer

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me on. So whenever I first started out, I went through a few different phases. I thought I was gonna go into father’s rights. And then I was like, Nope, that’s too close to home. I don’t wanna do that. And then I thought I was gonna go into criminal law and I dabbled in that for a little bit of criminal defense. But, I didn’t like the constant go, go, go of having to bounce around to court, literally 24/7, and then all of a sudden, it’s like the end of the day and you still haven’t eaten one meal. And I was like, that life is just not for me. So I wanted to reverse engineer my life. And I was like, what do I want my life to look like moving forward? What type of freedom do I want during the day? So paired with the fact that I was entering the online space as a lawyer, I saw this massive gap between the real-life world of law and the digital business, digital entrepreneur, and things like that world of law. Uh, and so I wanted to help bridge that gap, because just because you don’t have a brick-and-mortar business does not mean that certain laws don’t apply to you, it doesn’t mean it’s just a free for all. So that’s kind of how I only landed where I landed here.

Common Misconceptions of Laws for Online Entrepreneurs

Host | [00:03:52] Tristan Thibodeau: 

I love that so much. And what you mentioned in terms of like, things that apply to brick and mortar business, that online entrepreneurs may think doesn’t apply to them. Can you tell us what those things may be, or like the common misconceptions of no, you are a business. So everything applies to you. Like what do we think doesn’t apply to us as online entrepreneurs?

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

Yeah, absolutely. So I think that, um, you know, I find a lot of people that don’t feel the need to use contracts. They’re like, oh, it’s just online. We don’t need to use contracts. And that’s also false, right? You still have to have contracts. When you have a website, you have to have a privacy policy. You have to have terms of use. These things are non-negotiable things that brick and mortar businesses generally know that you know, people in the online space don’t when you go and you are opening up a physical location, I think you automatically feel like there’s a greater sense of liability attached to that. So it’s a no-brainer. Like, yes, I do have to talk to a lawyer, but when you’re just operating out of your home or out of a space in your home or anywhere, you know if you are a traveling entrepreneur and you’re on the road, People don’t think, oh, I still have that same liability. I need to talk to a lawyer, but you do, if you’re providing services, if you’re selling products, you are still subject to certain liability. Number one with contracts and number two with trademarks, right? Just because you operate in the online space, doesn’t mean you can take a brick and mortar, uh, business name or that they can take your business name. Right. It goes both ways. And so even though someone is operating digitally versus in a brick-and-mortar sense, everything is still going to apply. You are still going to be subject to all of the different rules and laws when it comes to all things business.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

So important guys. And I think as you said, there’s just this perceived lack of day attitude, because we are online, especially when we start. Yes.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

I’m. I’m gonna say so. Oh my God. I cannot handle it. It’s gonna grind my gears, get me heated, someone posted and they’re like, I don’t do legal contracts, but I do do sole contracts and I’m like, Oh my God, this is like nails on a fucking chalkboard for me. Okay. Because I like it, I get it. Like I get the energy like I am fully in that world, but God, you bit your ass. I am still signing legal contracts because the thing about it is, when it comes to contracts, it is not just to protect you, it is also to protect your client. I would never be someone’s client. If they weren’t sending me a contract, there is absolutely no way because I’m handing over my money. And what type of recourse do I have when I get nothing?

The Doorway to Freedom

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

And this is like, listen, guys, Cha and I are both in the spiritual space. We get it, we get the energetic frequency. Like we get the energetic exchange of working with somebody, but I have worked with so many spiritual entrepreneurs who have tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices because they didn’t do any sort of contract or agreement that they could then use to follow up a suit for like unpaid invoices. It just happens to everybody and even if you are a deeply spiritual person that has, you know, a heart of gold and has intentions that are like super pure things happen financially. And if somebody’s in a hole and they’re like, I can’t pay you, sorry. Like what, what do you do with that? Like, that’s just not an option. So you have to cover your ass and something you were talking about that I think resonates. So, so deeply with trademarking is you said the transition during your experience with the law during your journey with the law was so that you could reverse engineer your lifestyle. Right. And so this is kind of what we all try to do as online entrepreneurs, are we go into this type of business for the freedom to be able to live wherever we want to work the hours, we want to be able to et cetera. But then if we don’t go through the process of actually owning the brand that is giving us all of this freedom or like is the doorway to all of this freedom. What can happen? What, can happen if we don’t claim ownership of the brands that we have put so much time and energy into to create the life of freedom that we want?

Claiming Ownership of Brands

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

Absolutely. So, number one, you could get hit with an infringement lawsuit, right? And that’s in federal court and that’s just scratching the surface. That’s like the top thing you don’t want to happen. But aside from that, you could get hit with a cease and desist, and you could be forced into an entire rebrand. So, you know, it’s and then people come to me. 

I just had someone come to me and I, you know, we always do a clearance search and I provided them with the clearance results and it was high risk. And I was like, listen, we can’t move forward. And they’ve been in business for eight years and they’re like, okay. So I now have to rebrand this entire business and brand that I’ve been building from the ground up for eight years. And I’m like, yeah, unfortunately. Yeah, you do. And so it’s, I, I preach to people all the time. Like, this is something you have to take seriously from the beginning, but people don’t, and then they get frustrated when they end up having to rebrand. 

Like it happens. So it’s not just, oh, maybe you never get hit with an infringement too. Maybe you never get hit with a cease and desist. Uh, maybe those things don’t happen, but if you do get hit with a cease and desist, you are surely gonna have to rebrand. Or even if you don’t, by the time you’re ready to own your brand, you’re gonna come and you’re gonna try and own your brand. And you’re not going to be able to, because someone already does.

Trademark Process

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

Yep, absolutely. And you used the term, I just wanna make sure people understand. You said, you ran a clearance on it. Can you just explain what that means for anybody that is unsure about that?

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

Yep. So when we go through the clearance phase, it’s like part of the trademarking process. We wanna make sure that there is no other brand out there that is using a name that is the same or similar to yours. If there is, then you can’t move forward because they already have a registered trademark and you can’t infringe on their trademark rights. So when we do that clearance search, there’s a whole process that we go through with the report and a letter and all that good stuff. 

But you, we clear the name and we’re gonna be like, okay. Yeah, either A, we can move forward, or B, it’s not a good idea to move forward because there’s already a mark that exists. If there’s a mark that already exists, it is the same or similar to yours. Number one, you’re never gonna be able to own your brand because you’re not gonna be able to get it through to the USPTO, but that’s the least of your concern because now, you know, you could get hit with an infringement suit or a cease and desist.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

And this, like Chandler said, happens to one of my very close business friends. This happened to her. She had been running a business for about a year and a half, and then learned about trademarking, went to trademark couldn’t trademark, cause it was already trademarked and had to go all the way back to square one, which means she needed all new copy, all new website, all new brand design, she had to refile her business. It was. A whole starting over. So these things happen and it’s not to scare you. It’s to say, listen, if you have big goals and you have a vision of taking your company nationally or globally or internationally or whatever it may be, you are going to need to trademark eventually. Like this is part of your journey if you have a vision of taking your company global and really making a huge impact in the world. And so being smart on the front end before you invest years and years and years and thousands and thousands of dollars into your brand is the smartest thing that you can do.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

Hundred percent. And it’s one of those things where it’s like, it’s a necessary investment that you have to make to get to that next level because it’s, I get that it’s an upfront investment. It is a period. You can’t get around that. Right. But if you don’t do that, then you are going to face the alternative, which is number one, a whole bunch of shit, but number two, building a brand that you can ultimately never own. So what’s the point in continuing to do that? And then also spending double, triple, quadruple times what you would’ve spent in the first place. If you would’ve just taken steps to protect your brand from the very beginning. And you know, I see people invest in all the fun parts of business, which are important, right? We have the copy, we have the website, we have the branding, we have the photography, all of those are massively important. And I will preach that till the day I die.

How to protect the brand that you fully worked on

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

But how are we investing in those things, but we’re not taking steps to protect all the things that help build that brand. So, one thing I always say is if you’re building a house, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna lay the foundation first? Are you gonna paint the walls? Because I see everyone painting the walls first, but no one’s laying the foundation and if you’re not laying the foundation, you’re not gonna have any walls to paint. Because it’s not built on a solid foundation. It’s not built on solid ground. So you’re gonna paint all those walls and there’s gonna be a little bit of a rainstorm one day or a little bit of wind, and it’s gonna come through and knock it all over.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

And sometimes the house and the walls that you paint. Fucking gorgeous. And like, everything that you did is stunning and you have to start from scratch. So it’s true. It’s like if you are serious about being an entrepreneur about building a powerful brand and you make all of these investments, trademarking, essentially like Chandler set, it protects every single investment that you make into your business. Coaching that you invest into mentorship that you invest to grow that brand name, design, photography, literally everything that you do, every investment that you make trademark protects that. So it’s like the best first step for you to take before you invest in any major. Any major amount of money into your business or any money at all.

How LLC Works on your brand

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

And I wanna do a fun, little rapid fire Q and A, and you’re gonna recognize these questions because they are not original. I pulled them from your content. So you are prepared and ready to go for this. So we’re gonna do a rapid fire, true or false. And if they’re false or if they’re true, you can just give a little bit of an explanation. So the first one is. 

If I have an LLC, that means that I own my brand.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

Super false. So it’s a very common misconception, but your LLC is going to protect you from liability in the event that you get sued. What an LLC does is it creates a shield between you and your personal assets. So if someone tries to Sue you, they can’t. Come through and break through that shield and take your house and take your car and take any of those personal assets to satisfy any judgment that was issued against you.It does nothing for your brand. And LLC is completely different from a trademark there. Two completely different purposes. And LLC, it has no bearing. It protects you for liability purposes, but that is it. It doesn’t protect you in regards to your brand name law.

Legal Contract Signing

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Mm-hmm. And I have an additional rapid fire before we do rapid fire too. And that is when you’re signing a contract. I was listening to a podcast that you should sign. As your name as the CEO of your company name. 

So what’s the best way to sign contracts so that we’re actually utilizing our LLC and not assuming that risk?

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: So when you are an LLC, when you’re a business, it’s not enough to just be like, oh, I failed for an LLC on a business. No. Now you have to act like a business. How does a business act? You’re going to sign a contract. On behalf of the business, not on behalf of yourself, you’re going to open up a business bank account. You’re going to keep personal and business transactions completely separate. You have to behave in a way that a business is going to behave.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Okay, so the best way to sign a contract, is it Tristan Thibodeau on behalf of Wild Womn Haus, LLC?

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: Yep. Or CEO of, yep.Or you can either have the name and then, you know, your business designation and then the name of the business below it. That’s common as well.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Okay, everybody makes sure that you’re doing this on your contracts. I, I’ll admit, I did not know that one. And then I was listening to a podcast. I’m like, oh my God, I need to ask Chandler about this. Make sure that it’s legit because wow, the amount of contracts. And so nothing moves outta my hands without, on behalf of, or CEO of so that I’m actually utilizing my LLC. Okay. Rapid fire too. Ready?

The Importance of a Trade Name

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

All right. I own my brand. If I filed for a trade name or a DBA doing business as.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

False again, false. So a trade name, a DBA, a fictitious business name, even a state trademark, whatever those, do not protect you on a federal level to protect your brand. Okay. What a trade name or a DBA is going to do is it’s going to connect it back to your LLC. So you can have the name of your LLC be your name, right. If you want it, and then you have a brand name. So your business name isn’t necessarily the same as your brand name.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

What a DBA or a trade name does, is it connects that brand name that you’re using back to your LLC. So even if you’re going by your brand name, you are going to be protected for liability purposes. All it’s doing is creating that connection, but it is giving you no ownership over your brand name.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Okay, so anybody that is doing business as make sure that you have. Straight and make sure that you’re still trademarking cuz holy shit important. All right. Number three. If I have a domain name, like my website, the name, my website is called or if I own the name on every single social media account, that means that I own the brand.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

False. So you can get as many social handles as you want. You can take all the domains that you want. You can be, you know, the only person using it by all means that does not mean you own the brand name. Someone can come in and entirely SWOP it up.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: So important guys. And then if I run a brand for many years, I own the brand.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: False. You can build something from the ground up. You can be building it for 5, 10, 20 years, but if you do not take steps to actually get ownership over that brand name, you do not own it. It is not yours.

Steps to avoid legal suit on trademarking

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Mm. Okay. So that rapid fire around guys was for you to kind of break down any misconceptions you may have where you think there’s a loophole to trademarking. Really, there are no loopholes ever. And so we’ve talked about the fact that if you own a brand or if you have created a brand, but you do not yet have it trademarked. You wanna go through the trademarking process to avoid any sort of legal suit on behalf of the person that might own the brand, but also to make sure that you claim ownership of that brand and that you can avoid having to reinvest back into a rebrand. So let’s take the opposite end of the spectrum now. And if somebody has not yet launched they’re in the process of building a new brand. This is when they’re looking at potential brand names, what are some really smart decisions that they can make before they even launch and go public to make sure that they have a trademarkable brand name and that they can file before they even press go on their business.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

Okay. I have plenty of thoughts on this number one, number one, you can file a trademark before you have launched. So number one, you’re going to want to trademark it before you actually launch it. And before it even gets put on the map with every single one of the trademarks I filed for myself personally, I have always filed prior to launching you. There’s a different basis that you file on, but you will always file prior to launching because it is going to give you priority rights. And then you’re just gonna show proof that you’re actually using the name and that you actually brought it to life later down that road, but it is going to give you priority rights. You’re going to get that application in and kind of reserve your spot, quote unquote in line.

Number one, that number two, you’re going to want to make sure that you are clearing the name. So before you actually go forward with that application, you’re going to want to clear the name, go through that clearance phase we were talking about earlier and make sure that you can actually even own the name, because again, you don’t wanna build a brand name, if you’re not going to be able to go forward with it. Anyways, the trademarking process takes a long time, right? It’s gonna take a year, sometimes even longer, right now it’s a little bit longer than a year. And if you file a trademark without going through that clearance process, you are spending the next year waiting before you ever know, can I even own this name or not? brand to life.

Low Risk vs. High Risk in the Trademark Process

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: 

Is that what low risk means? Sorry to interrupt you. But low risk versus high risk, low risk is there’s not a lot. There’s either none or no other brands that are in your category or just no other brands in general?

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

No other brands that are in your category, but I can’t even say that as a hard and fast rule, cuz sometimes they’ll be in another category, but that category is similar and so they’ll still deny it. So you kinda have to analyze RA. How similar are these number one? How similar of the names

Number two. How similar are the categories? A lot of people think, well I use duh and my brand name and the other person doesn’t. So they’re not similar at all. And I’m like, no, no, no. No, no retract, regroup. Um, this is like a filler word. It doesn’t matter. Right? Right. Like minor shifts. They’re not substan. It has to be a substantive change to the brand.

How to create a brand name that can be trademarked

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

On that note, and then the other thing you’re gonna wanna do is make sure that you have a strong brand name. So there’s varying levels of strength when it comes to trademarks and. A lot of people will want to use something that is fairly descriptive and that can be a problem. It kind of puts entrepreneurs in this like catch 22, a lot of times, right. Or in, like a rock and a hard place, because it’s like, I want to name their brand, something that is easily recognizable and you’re gonna know what type of services they offer, when it comes to trademarking. That’s actually the weakest thing that you can do. You hear Pepsi, you hear Coke, you hear tar, you target whatever brand name, Nike, you hear those things and you automatically know what I’m talking about, but it gives no indication to what the goods or services they offer are.

And so a lot of people want to, you know, if I was to name, if I was to open up an ice cream shop and I was to say, my brand name is gonna be the ice cream shop. Well, I’m just simply saying what I’m doing.So brand name wise, that’s you can’t, you can’t do that. Right? Because I can’t prevent other people from using it. The ice cream shop or things that sort. So it’s like, you want to make sure that you’re naming it, something that is creative and not just something that is going to be repetitive of what you do.

Categories in Trademark Process

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Yeah, absolutely. And something else that you hit on was the difference between categories. So for anybody that’s just unfamiliar with this, can you explain what a category is? And then the difference between. Maybe there is a name that exists, but it’s in a completely different category that doesn’t cause a conflict of, um, clarity. So can you talk a little bit about categories and what that involves?

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

Yep. So with the USPTO, there’s a handful of different classes we’re gonna use. That’s the legal terminology. We’ll use the term term categories cause just is more inherent makes more sense here. Um, so when it comes to these categories, every good or service. This world is going to fall under one of these categories. 

Some things are grouped together that are totally unrelated and don’t make sense. Some things are, you know, all focused on a specific type of service or a specific type of good. Anything is going to fall under these categories. When you own a trademark or you file your trademark application, you have to file in connection with one or multiple categories. 

So whatever services you offer, you have to figure out what category they fall under, what goods you offer, what category they fall under, and then you wanna file in connection with those categories. Reason being you can’t just own a mark, just own it. Right. 

You only own a trademark or a brand name in connection with how you’re actually using it. So I can’t say I own this word for everything. Right? You have to own it in connection with how you’re using it. Trademarks can coexist as long as they’re in completely separate categories. So for example, what I always use is dove soap and dove chocolate, right? Those coexist with the same brand name, but they coexist because there’s no likelihood of confusion there. You’re not gonna go to the soap aisle and start non on it. Like it’s candy. You’re not gonna go to the candy aisle and start rubbing it all over your body because you think. Soap. Right. So there’s no likelihood of confusion there, and that’s why they allow those to coexist.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Right? I mean, you may not rub chocolate on your body thinking it’s soap. There might be other reasons in our feral girl, feral girl arrow, why we would rub chocolate on our bodies, but see.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: I see. But you’ll never know. You’ll never know.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: That’s an inside joke that nobody’s gonna know about. Ha so .

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: I love this.

Application of Different Trademark Categories

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: This is super, super helpful. And so like, if there’s a brand, let’s just say that they are, I mean, we can use Wild Womn Haus. So if Wild Womn Haus is an agency that provides services, then we start selling educational products and then we start selling physical products.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Is that one trademark or are those all separate trademarks?

Guest | Chandler J Esquire:It depends on the best lawyer answer ever. So if you are filing in multiple different categories at once, you can file it under those under that same application. But you’re gonna have to file in multiple different classes. If you are building a brand for a year with your agency services and then a year from now, you’re like, I’m gonna start selling products. Then you are going to have to file a new application a year from now. You can’t add to the existing application that you already filed. You either file it all and do it at the same time, or you would have to file another application down the road.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Okay, cool. So anybody that, that applies to, even if you’re in multiple uh, classes or multiple categories, like the example we’ve been using. It sounds like those are all separate trademarks unless it’s been within it a calendar year. Is that correct?

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: Not even necessarily a calendar year. It’s just within when you file that application. So the second that application hits submit, if you decide two minutes later that you want to file in connection with something else, you gotta file another application. You can do multiple classes or categories in the same application, but you have to intend to do that.

The value of a legitimate business and what you need to trademark for

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Okay, cool. That’s more clear. And where I kind of wanna wrap things up. I wanna hear all about the things that you offer because I am a customer client of yours, and I can’t wait to talk about the results that I got from what I’ve invested into your business. But also, I wanna kind of touch a few more of the benefits of trademarking, cuz we talked mostly about the ownership and the like the legal ownership and then the protection assets of trademarking.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Can we talk about maybe social proofing, like what that says to the world when you trademark or what are the other maybe less tangible value that a trademark can give you to legitimize your business.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: Absolutely. So just like people buy houses, right? That’s land, property, trademarks are going to be intellectual property and it’s not something you can hold, you don’t get keys to it. You can’t walk on it. You can’t physically hold anything other than your registration certificate. Right. But it can arguably be more valuable because of the things that you can do with it.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: So, number one, you’re going to actually own. Property. If you are building a business that you later down the road want to sell or get investments for anything along those lines, you will need a trademark. That’s not optional. You will absolutely need one. That’s gonna be necessary. 

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: The other thing it’s gonna do is help build that reputation. Right? So you are building brand awareness, you are building brand recognition. People are going to start being like, oh, she legit is actually taking this seriously. Right? Like they are whoever’s finally, like you are taking steps. To secure your brand, which means you are in this, you’re in it for the long haul and people are paying attention to that. The other thing that’s really cool is that first time trademark filers actually have double the revenue growth within a year. So most people have a certain percentage of revenue growth, but if you are a first time trademark filer you in the next year or the year you filing, you are going to have double the revenue growth. That is good.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: And is that just the difference in mindset and like, commitment or what, can you explain that?

What the trademark symbol stands for

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: Yeah, I would argue that number one and number two, the fact that people are seeing it and they’re like, oh, this is like a legit brand.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Wow. Yeah. So what you’re talking about right now in the world of brand strategy is perceived value and then brand perception. So because we know the trademark symbol to be associated with these gigantic global companies, like you mentioned Coke, you mentioned Pepsi, you mentioned, we know that those are trademarked, cuz we always see the little circle with the R and it. Which means it’s registered, right? The second that you do that, it immediately elevates the perception of your authority and credibility as a brand. 

And people notice those things. It may not, it may not be the main deciding factor to work with you or not, but it’s like a check mark that goes on their list to say, oh, okay, this brand’s legit. Like this business is legit. So it does make a difference. And I’m really excited to get it. Our symbol, like we have the TM because we filed, we filed back in October of last year. So we’re, we’re coming closer to the year date. And I cannot wait to get that notice that says you’re officially registered. I am so excited.

What is Asset Protection Program

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: So tell us about the process that you use to help business owners, DIY their trademarking. And then I can share a little bit about, a little bit about my experience with it.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: Absolutely. So I created a program called the asset protection program. Right? Play on words there. Uh, but it literally takes people through the exact process and the exact steps that I use when I register trademarks for my own clients. At the end of the day, it’s not rocket science, right? Like you can do it 110%, but number one, you need to know how to do it because the APP is really finicky. These applications. Our legal proceedings, right?

So it’s not something to play around with. You do need to know what you’re doing, and you need to be careful and meticulous when you’re going through that process. And you also have to understand the strategy behind it. But once you understand that strategy, it’s really going to be a rinse wash and repeat type of process.

The reason APP is so powerful is because now that you know how to do it right, you can do it time and time again for, you know, the brands that you are creating and the, when you are adding on. Different categories or different services to either your agency or to, if you’re coming out with products, you are able to do that on your own versus having to hire an attorney each time you wanna go through that trademark process at the end of the day. Trademarks aren’t one and done. They never are. 

Right. You have multiple different trademarks in your product suite. You have a word, mark, you have your logo design, you have your slogan. There are multiple different things that you can trademark right off the bat. And so when you have AVP and when you understand that strategy, it’s a process that you can go through time and time again.

When Wild Womn Haus got the LLC

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Mm-hmm and that’s exactly why I made the investment into it. 

And first and foremost, taking this company global, like that is part of our vision. And so I was not willing to fuck around from the get, go with this launch. And, you know, we launched in February. I learned about trademarking, I think in September. And then immediately went through the process in October. Once I realized that this was, you know, you just don’t honestly hear about it for small businesses. You just don’t like to think of trademarking, you think of gigantic global conglomerates. You don’t think of small businesses.

So that’s why I’m so grateful that you are like a spokesperson for the small business, because as we’ve talked about, there are plenty of examples of people that have had to completely abandon their brand and start from scratch because they didn’t trademark.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: 

Well, and that’s the other thing like small businesses get picked on right by these big companies. I’ve had it happen to clients before, by things that are totally just unrelated. But at the end of the day, these bigger companies are going to have bigger pockets and they’re just gonna push money through to try and bully people and to stop using things. Or you heard of whenever Facebook transitioned to meta. You know, they didn’t have that name and whoever owned meta got a big paycheck their way.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Yeah. And I’m just like, what if a company of that size didn’t do their background on meta or they’re just like, we’ll pay it. Like it doesn’t matter. We’re gonna get it. Yeah.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: Yes. It doesn’t matter. That’s what it comes to cuz they’re like, we’ll just, we’ll write it off. But that’s the thing. These people secured rights and they filed their trademark to meta. Probably never would’ve imagined that they were going to get that big of a payday, but they did. And now look, they are able to not only pay for a rebrand, but number two, they’re able to take their business to new heights. Just simply because one, they got put on the map and number two, they’re going to have so much money now to invest because they filed one trademark application.

And APP is like, the way I see it is it’s a lifelong resource. It’s something that I’m gonna keep going back to over and over and over again, because it is so granular, like the detail and the way that you broke down, literally each click that you make of your mouse was so helpful. And when you go to the landing page to learn more about the program and you see the breakdown of literally every single phase of filing and every single, teeny tiny step that you take, I was immediately sold. I was like, okay, I’m good. Like this, this chick has me in good hands. I’m gonna be completely solid doing this. It took me maybe a month, two – two weeks to a month to get through everything. And from the start of OC, from the middle of September to the middle of October, I went from knowing nothing to feeling confident, filing, filing, and now I’m just in the process of waiting for it to be approved. So it’s done in the books. And something else that I think is really important is that trademarking is like first come first serve. 

So it doesn’t even matter if, you know, if you have a trademark and then somebody comes in. A day after yours and yours gets approved the day before you are going to be the person that owns that trademark, even if some became in a day after.

So it really is like a time game here, which is why I’m so passionate about telling people, like, do it, no matter how new you feel to business. If you’re in this for the long game, like get your ass in beer and get your brand name, trademark.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: Absolutely. It’s so necessary. Just get in there and do it because once you know how to do it, it is like, there are people, I have clients who are so serious about that brand of protection. Like we will file before it’s ever brought to life, and sometimes they don’t even bring it to life, but they’re like, I’m not playing around with this because if this is what happens, like this is gonna be big and I know it.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Yeah, absolutely. So tell us about all the other things and guys check the link to that is gonna be in the show notes, along with my affiliate code, where you can go. And enjoy a special, I believe they get a special little discount, correct? Yep. Amazing. So you can go check that out.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: And with AVP too, what was I gonna say? I was gonna say something. Um, oh, I’m like so straight to the point, which I’m sure you can attest through, but like we get in there and it’s like, there’s no fluff. I know a lot of programs have fluff. I don’t have time. Other people don’t have time. We dive straight in. I think total in actual like video material, it’s only like two hours. Like I only talk for two hours. So if you, if you can listen to this, you can listen to AVP and get through it.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: It’s a manual. Like it’s literally a manual on how to do this step by step by step. And like Chandler said, the application process. I’m not gonna lie. It’s a little intimidating. If you have no idea what you’re looking at, looking at. And like she said, if you file it and you do something wrong, you have to go all the way back and refile and repay that submission fee and go all the way back through. So wouldn’t you rather just do it right the first time and have the insurance that, you know, you did it right the first time so you don’t have to keep going back and fixing your mistakes. That’s my opinion, at least. So I would highly suggest checking AVP out.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: Absolutely.

Contract Templates

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Yeah. Tell us about the other things. So you have a couple more things. I don’t know if you wanna talk about naughty entrepreneurs. I don’t know if you wanna talk about your, your contract templates and all of the other things that you sell and then we can kind of wrap up from there.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: Yeah, absolutely. So I have one thing I get asked a lot about is LLCs. And to me they’re the most. Like they’re the most basic thing, but there’s something I want people to do on their own. People will come to me to like to pay there. I’ll pay you, just register my LLC. I’m like, no, you can do it on your own. And I want you to save your money and invest it in a trademark, invest in contracts, invest it in other things. 

LLC 1,2,3 Mini Course Program

So I created a program called LLC in 1, 2, 3. It’s a mini course similar to AVP. It walks you step by step through exactly how to get your LLC. What website to go to literally A, to Z, all that good stuff. And then what you have to do, if you have to change it, you have to close it. Um, anything LLC related there. And then when it comes to contracts, I have an arsenal of contract templates or bundles even, uh, to cover literally anything you could imagine or think of. So service contracts, website contracts, right? 

That’s gonna be your privacy policy in your terms of use and digital terms of purchase, and then team building contracts. So independent, contractor agreements, non-compete agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and the same thing, you know, as trademarks with contracts, it’s not just a one and done, like you can’t have one contract that you for everything. Like that’s not the way it works. Right. I, in a perfect world, it would be, unfortunately it’s not a perfect world. So here, here it is. And we have to use multiple different contracts for multiple different things.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: And when she used the word arsenal, it’s literally, I mean, literally any type of contract you could think of is in there. And it’s amazing. It’s such a valuable resource.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: And I, I haven’t announced that, I guess this will kind of be the first public announcement, but we’re switching things right now. There’s been like scale successful bundles, right? So you would have to pick your niche and then you would pick a bundle based on your niche. We’re in the process of creating something called the design for your bundle. And so it is literally going to be every single contract from every single niche. And you’re gonna be able to stick to it. Yeah. All in one. Going to be one gigantic bundle. So like you think you have an arsenal now it’s about to get 10 X better because every single contract, literally everything I’ve ever done is going in there.

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: It’s gonna become like a military base at this point. It’s like lock and load girls. Let’s go.

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: So good. And then with naughty entrepreneur, so word on the street is we’re supposed to be launching that next week, actually, which is insane. I know, I don’t even know how to act. It’s so crazy seeing it all come together, but this has really been my heart and soul. Um, and it’s so fun to see it come to. Physical life. Right. And finally be here. I remember when we started posting on Instagram and it was just such a good feeling because even with the trademarks, this has been in the process for over two years and no one knew about it. Like,

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: I know, I know. I know, so it’s, it’s taken a lot of time, but I’m like, I wanna do this, so right. And I want everything to be so perfect because this is like my heart and soul in physical format. So,

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Oh my God. I am so excited for you and the commitment, like two years, keeping that quiet. Oh my God. Balls of steel over here. Like holy, holy shit. It’s been . I’m so excited to see it launched. I cannot wait to just keep watching and see what happens and what you do with it. I know it’s gonna be epic. Like I can already. Feel the energy of it and how bold and badass it is. I cannot wait. You have a huge fan girl on the other side of the screen, Chandler, thank you so much for coming on. This was such a valuable episode. We went really deep into some topics and also covered a lot of the little nuances that I don’t think get talked about very often in conversation with entrepreneurs, things that I don’t really know how to answer. So thank you so much for all of this information. Is there anything you wanna leave the Wild Womn fan with or anything else that you wanna plug and promote.

Message from Chandler J. Esq – Trademark Lawyer to the Listeners

Guest | Chandler J Esquire: Take your brand seriously. Just take your brand seriously. Do what it takes because it’s so worth it. Make decisions based on, you know, your vision, not decisions based on how you feel right now.

Closing Remarks

Host |Tristan Thibodeau: Mm. Super powerful. Thank you so much. Gorgeous. I can’t wait to have you back on here some other time. . That is a wrap on this incredible conversation with Chandler after we stopped recording Chandler and I had the best conversation, we both had each other rolling on the floor, laughing. I mean, Her. And I, I feel like are just kindred spirits and I am so excited that she got to come on and have this conversation with all of you and share with you the value of trademarking, protecting your brand, and also taking your business seriously by ensuring that you have the ability to scale in a stress free way so that you can actually act as a CEO without question. Here’s what I suggest you do. Go to Instagram. Follow Chandler, her Instagram is in the show notes and also check out naughty entrepreneurs on Instagram. That is also linked in the show notes because you are going to love the vibe over there. 

And if you are curious about learning more about the asset protection program or any of the DIY contract templates, or even her course on setting up an LLC, all of those links are in the show notes as well. Along with my affiliate link, I became an affiliate in everything that Chandler offers, because I believe in it so deeply. 

And I believe in protecting yourself, owning your brand, taking care of your assets and making sure that you are set up to scale. Because if you have a big vision for going global and impacting millions of lives, why would you not wanna take your brand seriously and ensure that you actually own your shit? 

So go check out all of those resources and if you love today’s episode, I would. So grateful. If you could leave us a rating and, or review on apple podcast, you know, the drill, if you do so, take a screenshot, email it to us at podcast@wildwomnhaus.com and we will send you a free, spicy gift in the mail to show our appreciation. That is all I have for you today. Wild Womn fam. 

Thank you so much for tuning in now. Go pursue that big impact and big income that you’re after!