Accepting Your Worth and Protecting Your IP With Nequosha Anderson
This week on Messy in the Middle, I’m talking about accepting your worth and protecting your IP with Nequosha Anderson of Anderson Law Firm! Anderson Law Firm’s goal is to help you get the business knowledge and protection solutions you need to thrive in your business. Nequosha and I met in a Facebook group over a year ago as I was trying to trademark the name Propegy.
Nequosha’s Story:
“My name is Nequosha, and entrepreneurs hire me when they want to secure their income producing assets! I started my business in 2013 when I got out of law school. I left private practice to go back and work for the government, then I left the government to come back to private practice.
In that timeline, I was surrounded by business owners. My dad started a business and owned a logistics company when I was 13, and he had a way of doing business that got the loads in a lot faster and in a more fuel efficient way that he got a contract from a Fortune 100 company. Our lives changed, things were on the up and up.
This is what most entrepreneurs look for. We get a great opportunity and our lifestyle starts to change. But it gets a little harder too. My father’s company got on the radar of the logistics manager of this Fortune 100 company and they called a meeting. They data mined my dad, figured out how he was doing what he was doing, and six months later we lost the contract.
Fast forward- after my education, it hit me what had happened to my dad. It was then that I made the commitment that I didn’t want other business owners and entrepreneurs to have that happen to them. I dove deeper into intellectual property, and that is my core mission- to ensure that entrepreneurs are protecting what’s rightfully theirs so they aren’t robbed. “
Her dad was what ultimately made her want to study law in the first place. Originally, she wanted to be a data scientist and apply that to data mining. After taking a technology contract in the law sort of class, she decided that law was the life for her. She applied to law school and the rest is history!
Out of law school, she went into private practice. Her mentor at the time had been one of the founding counsel members of Disney and Universal Studios, and that mentorship gave her confidence to go in an independent direction. That coupled with her constant connection to business owners throughout her life and watching the ups and downs of entrepreneurship gave her the push to go in a different direction.
Imposter Syndrome
Like most of us, Nequosha experienced some imposter syndrome as a young, new business owner. In the start of her career helping older more experienced entrepreneurs, this was more prevalent; however, Nequosha is no stranger to hard work. Growing up and helping her parents, she worked hours that most high schoolers were not working. She notes:
“Oftentimes, children of color or immigrants or migrant families learn how to be the best CEO that people have ever met in their life. They have to learn how to translate business documents for parents and have to know how to navigate the systems in the world we live in. Often, that doesn’t translate well to paper, so you struggle to explain that you’ve done it all before. I ran the systems in my house since I was 15. I’ve been doing X, Y, Z since whenever, so imposter syndrome is very real.”
Nequosha shared that a source she read recently noted that imposter syndrome is a social construct to keep people of color or lesser means believing that they are not wanted in certain spaces. She noted that everyone’s thoughts and feelings are valid and that you are not, in fact, an imposter.
She said:
“Whether you’re just starting a business or you’ve amassed a nice amount of assets, it doesn’t matter. You belong, you are worthy to be heard, you need to be heard. Your voice is important, and your voice is life changing because it came from you.”
Nequosha’s Practice
At an early age, Nequosha learned from watching her parents in business that it is all about relationship building. Because of the established relationship she already had with the government system from working within it previously, that exposure made it that much easier to return when she felt the time was right. She went back because her family started to grow and it was the best choice at the time to provide for them.
She had never meant to be a litigator in a courtroom every day, but it ended up being the best thing to happen in her career! The decision to go back out on her own was a scary one, as it came out of a growing health concern. Fortunately, it’s also the best thing that could’ve happened for her body! The door to the government would always be open, but the journey towards solo entrepreneurship was ultimately the best one for her!
She said:
The best thing you can do for yourself when you enter entrepreneurship is have a good personal development plan. Because if you don’t work on yourself, it doesn’t matter how big your business gets, it doesn’t matter how much money you make in that business. You’re still going to fail because you don’t have the tools, you don’t have the skill sets to rely upon your past experiences, whether good or bad, to help you stay there.”
Life in Private Practice
Entering her private practice the first time around, Nequosha received the help of her mentor funneling work to her. The second time around, the opportunity was not as robust as it had been. She had to learn a new set of skills that related to selling legal services in a sustainable way. While the loss of the health benefits from the government was major, she came to realize she had only needed those benefits because of the environment she was working in.
She noted:
“I look back on the entrepreneur who I was when I relaunched versus the entrepreneur who I am now. And that was a growth cycle that I think we all need to go through, where you learn that your pricing matters, your cost of goods matters, your time matters.”
Pressure to Be Perfect
As a lawyer, making mistakes is not as simple as it may be in some other professions. But making mistakes doesn’t scare Nequosha- it’s just a part of life. When something doesn’t go your way, it’s a learning experience. It’s all about your view on the subject. It’s also important to be honest with others if/when you do make a mistake, especially if it is costing others money.
Starting a Team
When Nequosha started working on her own the first time, she was her only team member. It wasn’t until the second go at it that started developing a team. Managing a team, in her eyes, is truly a never ending cycle! Taking your ego out of things and giving people the work in a black and white fashion was her major piece of advice on running a team.
Currently at Anderson Law there are different divisions with various teams. She noted that there are so many other facets that go into growing your team, because every other part of your business grows along with it. The work of hiring starts long before the hiring process, with your vision for your business.
Accepting Your Worth and Protecting Your IP
As I mentioned, Nequosha and I met when I went to her to help me trademark Propegy, so of course we had to discuss IP & trademarks.
When deciding if it’s the right time/move in your business to trademark it, Nequosha said to ask yourself if you can afford to lose the name. If the answer is no, you need a protection tool. You can trademark at a state level if you aren’t ready to invest in the federal level.
If you’re just starting out you’ll want to have a non disclosure agreement and a service agreement laying out what you will and won’t do. You want to be sure your contract is really protecting most of the aspects of your business. What you invest in this is what you’re going to get! Once you start gaining some recognition, you may want to move into federal trademark protection. You also need a copyright to protect actual projects themselves like graphics, written work, podcasts, etc. You should consult with a lawyers even prior to your launch.
DIY or DFY Trademark
Long story short: if you’re not going to file your own tax return, you probably shouldn’t file your own trademark.
Hiring a Trademark Attorney
I asked Nequosha to give me some red flags or tips for people to look out for when hiring a trademark attorney. Here’s what she noted:
- Chapter doesn’t always mean better
- Ask how long they’ve been in business
- What’s their normal success rate
- How would you handle if you got an office action
I also asked what a typical trademark price may be. The answer? It can vary based on how many things you’re trademarking, where you are, etc. For something simple, you can expect a 4-figure investment.
Silly Questions
Nequosha’s favorite law drama is The Good Wife. Her least favorite is How to Get Away With Murder.
Where to Find Nequosha?
You can find Nequosha on Instagram, her website, and Facebook!
