Transform Your Expertise-Based Business with Erin Austin.
How to transform your expertise-based small business with attorney Erin Austin.
Erin shares how she helps her clients transform an expertise-based or service business – including consultants, coaches, designers, creative services firms, and other B2B professionals – from an unscalable, income-focused business to a scalable and saleable, profit-focused business.
Erin Austin is a graduate of Harvard Law School, and a strategic lawyer and consultant who uses her 25+ years of practicing law, including roles as COO and general counsel at large and small IP-driven companies, including Warner Brothers, Lionsgate (formerly known as Artisan), MGM, Teaching Strategies, and M3 USA Corp, to help founders of expertise-based firms build and protect saleable assets so that the business is ready to sell when the founder is ready to exit. Through her Hourly to Exit podcast and her consulting practice, Think Beyond IP, Erin guides businesses on the journey of transforming their unscalable income-generator into a saleable wealth building asset. Her special talent is helping businesses meet their growth goals through the creation of IP-based revenue streams.
Erin lives in Lovettsville, Virginia.
- Why and when did you decide to study law?
- You had a highly successful career in corporate law. What led you to starting your own firm?
- When did you know you wanted to be your own boss? Who were early entrepreneurial influences?
- Why did you decide to focus on this particular area of law?
- Why are you a business owner? What does it provide you?
- What is an IP-based growth strategy?
- Erin shares how she helps her clients create a product from their expertise. The high level steps include:
- Capturing the expertise.
- Protecting the Intellectual Property of your business.
- Leveraging your small business IP – growing beyond trading hours for dollars and grow a business that you can sell if you choose to.
- What do you mean by IP-based revenue streams? Would you please share an example?
- What’s required to make my business services business sellable?
- How to Scale Your Business by Licensing Your Expertise.
(Licensing your expertise to your clients or to other service providers is an efficient way to scale your business, extend your reach, increase your income, and multiply your impact.)
What are your suggestions for turning IP into a saleable asset? What assumptions do people get wrong? - Do You Own What You Think You Own?
(The Importance of Legal Due Diligence Before Implementing an IP-based Growth Strategy.) - What do you wish everyone knew about selling a business?
- What are some of the challenges for female business owners?
- What are the options for scaling your business when you are the expert?
- What advice would you give to someone who is just starting?
- What advice would you give to someone who is trying to find a buyer and get out?
- Where do I start with developing and protecting my intellectual assets?
Episode Host: Henry Lopez is a serial entrepreneur, small business coach, and the host of this episode of The How of Business podcast show – dedicated to helping you start, run and grow your small business.
Resources:
Books mentioned in this episode:
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- Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow
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