IAM604- Trademark Attorney Helps Businesses Distinguish Themselves

Radiance Harris is an award-winning trademark attorney, speaker, writer, and entrepreneur. As the founder and managing attorney of Radiance IP Law, Radiance helps six and seven-figure businesses across diverse industries protect, monetize, and grow their brands with trademarks so that they can distinguish themselves from competitors, prevent theft, and build profitable businesses. Previously, she worked at a major global law firm representing Fortune 200 companies. She received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law and her B.A. from Swarthmore College.

• CEO Hack: Getting my mind right through prayer, listening to motivational content, and daily devotion
• CEO Nugget: Mindset and power of positive belief
• CEO Defined: Creating my legacy, freedom, and being in control of my life and future

Website: http://www.radianceiplaw.com/

Facebook – @radianceharrisesq
Instagram – @radianceharrisesq

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Radiance Harris of Radiance IP Law. Radiance, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Radiance Harris 0:40

Thank you so much for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

No problem. Super excited to have you on. Just before we get started, I want to read a little bit more about Radiance so you hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Radiance Harris is an award-winning trademark attorney, speaker, writer, and entrepreneur. As the founder and managing attorney of Radiance IP Law, Radiance helps six and seven-figure businesses across diverse industries protect, monetize, and grow their brands with trademarks so that they can distinguish themselves from competitors, prevent theft, and build profitable businesses. Previously, she worked at a major global law firm representing Fortune 200 companies. She received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law and her B.A. from Swarthmore College. Radiance are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Radiance Harris 1:25

I'm ready, let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:26

Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear how everything got started, how you started with your business, and what your CEO story was.

Radiance Harris 1:34

Sure. So long story short, I started my career at a major global law firm, as you mentioned. So that's where I started and it was a great start to my career, to work at a major global law firm and to be able to work with top lawyers in the country. I started my career in trademark law and that's what I've been doing since the beginning. I just discovered after working in big laws, what we call it essentially, for the first five years of my career, I just kind of got tired of, I guess, working for the man, so to speak, I got tired of people telling me how to look how to dress to do how to practice law, I was ready to try something new and different. When I left my comfy job at a law firm, I left feeling really burnt out and unsure of my next move.

So I didn't immediately start my business. When I actually left, I didn't have a plan, I just knew that I was tired. I thought I was tired of just practicing law altogether. So I took some time to just hang out and take a break. I soon discovered that I wasn't tired of practicing law, I was just tired of working for someone else. So about three months after leaving my job, I decided to launch Radiance IP law. I have been in business for a little over four years now. So that's essentially how I got started with my business.

Gresham Harkless 3:17

Nice, I definitely appreciate that, and happy little over four years as well, too. I think that it definitely takes a lot of courage to be able to do that, especially even if you are burnt out, I think a lot of people feel as if whatever situation, job, or whatever situation they're in is the only way out and sometimes to hear that somebody is able to take that leap of faith, so to speak, kind of empowers all of us to remind ourselves that we do have control over some of the situations we have in our lives.

Radiance Harris 3:49

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 3:51

Nice. So I know I touched on it a little bit. When I read your bio, can you take us through exactly what you do with your firm and how exactly you work with clients that you have?

Radiance Harris 4:03

Sure, so I specialize in trademark law. So trademark law is a section under if you've heard the term intellectual property, so it's intellectual property law. Under that umbrella term, there's trademark law that protects your brand, which is legal protection ownership for your brand. So your business name, logo, slogan, all sorts of things, anything that serves as a source identifier for your business. Then you've got copyright law, which protects your content, then you've got patents with protect inventions, and then trade secrets which protect anything that's particularly proprietary to your business. So my focus is trademark law which is a form of intellectual property and so the way that I help my clients is by helping them protect, enforce, and leverage their brand and that's by securing US federal trademark registration to ensure that they actually legally own the brand that they're using, and enforcement.

So that's preparing and sending Susan's assistance letters to ensure that they maintain the rights that they've invested in to protect, as well as licensing. If you have a brand that you have leveraged, if you want to leverage I helped with creating licensing agreements and things of that nature. So that is how I support the clients that I work with. It's by helping them protect leverage and in my eyes their brand.

Gresham Harkless 5:35

So I definitely appreciate you for breaking that down and obviously doing that for the clients that you work with. Definitely correct me if I'm wrong, but it's something that should be done very least considered like from once you start to create that brand and start to do everything. So that's kind of from day one, to some degree, right?

Radiance Harris 5:50

Absolutely. So if you have if you're starting a business that you feel very good about passionate about, and you've created a brand, a business name, and logo slogan that you absolutely adore, and want to be recognized exclusively in the marketplace, under that name, or under that logo, then yes, it is definitely worth the investment worth the time to pursue trademark protection. Because when you don't do that, you essentially don't own the brand and name the logo that you're building your business on. So that is there, of course, there are a lot of legal implications that come with that. But yeah, in a nutshell, it is always best to do it from the beginning. So that you can ensure that you have actual legal ownership as you grow your business.

Gresham Harkless 6:41

Yeah, absolutely, and especially as we kind of talked about before in the beginning, when you also have your business and you are putting in your quote-unquote blood, sweat, and tears, to be able to bring it to fruition, you definitely want to make sure that at the very least you're protected from all the kind of hard work and dedication that you put in.

Radiance Harris 6:59

Absolutely not to mention the money that you've put into your business marketing, the following all of that goes into your brand. So definitely worthwhile the investment.

Gresham Harkless 7:10

Yes, definitely. Let's not forget about the resources for sure. Because I know vaguer boards as well to the people that are listening. So you might have already touched on this. But I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce and it can be for you personally or for your business but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Radiance Harris 7:29

So my secret sauce, I would say is my signature flat fee approach. So when I started my law practice, I knew that I wanted to have an exclusively flat fee law practice. So I started I was one very, there were hardly any trademark firms that had an all-inclusive flat rate trademark registration package or had flat rate all-inclusive services. So I like to consider myself a pioneer if you would like that flat fee. I mean, now firms are starting to catch on. But I would definitely say that my signature secret sauce would be my all-inclusive winter flat rate packages, which are very much based on value versus time spent and so that is my secret sauce, in addition to the fact that what I offer is highly specialized.

So I exclusively focus on trademark law and that's what I've done for over a decade. So I would say that that's my unique selling proposition as well. Because when you come to work with me, you know that I know my stuff. So I'm not a jack-of-all-trades attorney that has a whole bunch of stuff that I do. So I would say that those things are definitely what makes Radiance IP law and most importantly Radiance Harris unique.

Gresham Harkless 8:55

Yeah, absolutely. I definitely appreciate you for breaking that down. I think even some people might be listening to this or have and are unsure of exactly what they're going to be charged or if they sit down or they look they might get charged this or that. The third, I think it helps out to have that confidence and of course on top of that, to be able to know that you have that over a decade of experience that allows people to know that they're in good hands when they do have a conversation with you.

Radiance Harris 9:22

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 9:24

Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So that could be like an app or book or habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Radiance Harris 9:36

I would say the one thing that I think is very important as you are embarking on your entrepreneurial journey is to get your mind right. So for me, it's prayer, it is daily devotions. It is listening to motivational content and so for me, it's anything that will get me to get my mind right anything that will get me in the space where I feel motivated and driven and positive, as I embark on my day or my week or anything.

Gresham Harkless 10:15

Awesome and so now when it asks you for what I call a CEO nugget, that could be a word of wisdom or piece of advice, it could be around trademark or IP law, or it might just be something you might tell a newer client or your younger business self.

Radiance Harris 10:29

I think that the difference between the businesses that succeed and thrive and grow in limitless bounds, and those that don't and just stall and stay there is belief. I guess this piggybacks off of my CEO hack in the sense about the mindset and having the power of belief and being that what it is that you are doing is necessary, believing that you have talents and value to offer the world, believing that your business can achieve whatever goal it is that you are trying to work for.

Gresham Harkless 11:10

Nice. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO and we're hoping to have different quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So Radiance, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Radiance Harris 11:26

Being a CEO means creating my legacy, it means being in control of my life, being in control of my future, and then having the freedom to be however it is that I want to be, whether it's present for my family, whether it's being present for self. So I would say that that's what being a CEO is about freedom, being in charge of your legacy, and not putting that under someone else's control. I'm the one who's in control. So that's what being a CEO means to me.

Gresham Harkless 12:07

Nice, I love that, and especially that legacy piece, because it's so like profound and deep to think about the impact that you're having, and be able to create it and to have and make decisions around that. Because I think so many times, we can feel as if we don't have control of that. But being a CEO, taking those steps and taking those actions allow us to make and have control of how we want to create our lives and create our legacy and create what we're going to stand for.

Radiance Harris 12:33

Right. Absolutely and starting a business, I mean, is a legacy building exercise, I am wrong in the sense that you have decided that there's something that you have to offer the world. Then you want to help as many people as possible, and that you want to be remembered for. So sometimes that legacy could be what it is that you are doing right now as a part of your business. Or it could be that what you're doing right now is leading you to the legacy that you want to leave. But in any event, I think being your own boss if you will or being your own CEO is about creating the legacy that you want to leave behind for others. So have my two cents.

Gresham Harkless 13:28

It's more than two cents for sure. It's super powerful, just because I think so many times we forget and lose track. I think you can definitely do that from a business standpoint with the day-to-day kind of grind that you have. But understanding that the steps that you're taking all the actions that you're taking are so much more than sometimes what we're doing we have if you really call it to that mission, and really call to those day-to-day tasks that you're doing, then it's your legacy. It's those people that are around you, those people that you may not even know of that are looking at you and inspired by you. I think when you have that kind of mentality and that focus, it starts to really be super infectious and create that domino effect.

Radiance Harris 14:06

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 14:08

Awesome. Well, radiants truly appreciate that definition. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

Radiance Harris 14:23

Sure. So again, thank you so much for having me today. I've had such a great time. If anybody wants to get in touch with me or connect with me don't be a stranger. I don't bite. You can follow me on social media at Radiance Harris ESQ on Facebook and Instagram. Feel free to also connect our link with me on LinkedIn. You can check out my website at www.radianceiplaw.com and thank you again for having me. It's been a blast.

Gresham Harkless 15:05

No problem. Thank you for all you're doing and all that you provided to us today. We will definitely have those links and information in the show notes as well too so that everybody can click through and follow up with you and get in contact but appreciate you again and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 15:22
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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