HTBiz Law

HTBiz Law Author of Paid, Protected & Profitable™.

Plain-English legal guidance for small business owners on contracts, protecting your work, and getting paid what you're worth. HTBiz Law provides legal services to clients in the areas of:

(1) technology and intellectual property acquisition, protection and commercialization;

(2) health care, biotech and life sciences; and

(3) general business law and consulting services (with a special focus

on solo and small business startup issues). Our philosophy is to provide "big law" high-quality legal services with personalized attention designed around your specific needs, whether you are an established business, individual entrepreneur or emerging company.

08/28/2026

"Whoever puts the contract on the table first wins."

One of the most common ways service providers lose control is a single phrase in their agreement: "I'll perform to the client's satisfaction." It sounds fair. It quietly commits you to unlimited work.

From my conversation with Linda Bucher on Conversations Worth Your While. Full episode linked in comments.

It's live! 🎙️I'm back on Conversations Worth Your While with Linda Bucher, and this one is all about the legal side of r...
08/17/2026

It's live! 🎙️

I'm back on Conversations Worth Your While with Linda Bucher, and this one is all about the legal side of running your own business, the part most of us put off until a client refuses to pay, keeps asking for more work, or uses something we created without permission.

We talk about why "I'll work until you're satisfied" can mean unlimited revisions, why whoever provides the contract first has the advantage, how a simple copyright notice protects your work, and what to consider when you're using AI to create written materials.

Linda first had me on back in 2023, so getting invited back was such a joy. If you run your own business, or you're thinking about it, this one's for you.

Give it a listen, link in the comments.

We did it. PAID, PROTECTED & PROFITABLE™ is a #1 Amazon Best Seller, and today the hardcover is officially out.Last wee...
08/04/2026

We did it. PAID, PROTECTED & PROFITABLE™ is a #1 Amazon Best Seller, and today the hardcover is officially out.

Last week the book hit #1 in Copyright, Intellectual Property, and Patent, Trademark & Copyright. Every one of those came from someone who showed up and bought a copy.

If you would rather have it on the shelf, or you know someone building something of their own, the hardcover is the one for you.

Thank you for being part of this. Link in the comments.

I have some news I'm genuinely proud to share.The first-day rankings for PAID, PROTECTED & PROFITABLE are in, and they f...
07/29/2026

I have some news I'm genuinely proud to share.

The first-day rankings for PAID, PROTECTED & PROFITABLE are in, and they far exceeded my expectations. As of this morning, my book is a multiple-category #1 Amazon Best Seller and #1 Hot New Release.

Specifically:

THREE #1 Best Seller categories
THREE additional Top 10 Best Seller categories (including a #2)
THREE additional Top 70 Best Seller categories

FIVE #1 Hot New Release categories
FIVE additional Top 10 Hot New Release categories (including a #2 and #5)
FOUR additional Top 70 Hot New Release categories

A grand total of 9 BEST SELLER CATEGORIES and 14 HOT NEW RELEASE CATEGORIES, several of them major.

After thirty years as a technology, life sciences, and business attorney, I stepped back from a lot of things this past year to write the book I wished someone had handed every founder and small business owner I've worked with - the plain-English guide to contracts, protecting your work and your intellectual property, and getting paid what you're worth. Seeing it resonate like this, on day one, tells me it was the right thing to build.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this, cheered me on, and been patient with me while I wrote the book.

If it would be useful to you or someone in your network, it's available on Amazon (US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Singapore), Barnes & Noble, Booktopia, Books-a-Million, Walmart, and several regional booksellers.

The link to grab your copy on Amazon is in the first comment below!

It is here.PAID, PROTECTED & PROFITABLE™ is on Amazon as of today.Thirty years of watching good business owners lose mon...
07/28/2026

It is here.

PAID, PROTECTED & PROFITABLE™ is on Amazon as of today.

Thirty years of watching good business owners lose money, time, and ownership of their own work because nobody ever handed them the basics. So I wrote the basics down.

What belongs in your client contracts. How to actually own the work you paid for. How to price what you do without apologizing for it.

If you run your own business, or you love someone who does, today is a lovely day to grab a copy.

Link in the comments. Thank you to everyone who has cheered this along the way.

If you've ever said "I don't need an NDA, I trust them," let's talk about that for a minute.An NDA isn't a statement abo...
06/28/2026

If you've ever said "I don't need an NDA, I trust them," let's talk about that for a minute.
An NDA isn't a statement about the person. It's a framework for the information.
Every working relationship involves sharing things you wouldn't want shared elsewhere. Client lists. Pricing. Internal processes. Vendor relationships. Strategic plans. Financial details. The systems and tools you've spent years building.

Without a written agreement, the boundaries around all of that are subjective. What feels obviously confidential to you may not feel obviously confidential to them.

A real NDA, or a confidentiality clause inside a contractor or employment agreement, does three things:

It defines exactly what counts as confidential.
It specifies how that information can and cannot be used.
It outlines what happens if it's misused.

Trust still matters. So does protecting what you've built. They're not in conflict.
Your Legal Backstop™ has NDA and confidentiality templates ready to use → htbizlaw.com/yourlegalbackstop

P.S. This kind of gap is exactly what my new book walks through. Paid, Protected & Profitable™ pre-sale opens July 28, releases August 4. Waitlist is open at htbizlaw.com/paidprotectedprofitable

If you paid a designer to make your logo, you might not actually own it.Same goes for your website code, your photograph...
06/27/2026

If you paid a designer to make your logo, you might not actually own it.

Same goes for your website code, your photography, your copy, your video edits, and your brand assets.

Here's the gap that catches a lot of business owners off guard.

When someone creates work for you, they own the copyright by default. Even if you paid for it. Even if it was made specifically for your business. Unless your contract explicitly transferred ownership to you, the creator still owns the work.

What you actually have is a license to use it. Which sounds similar to ownership, but it's not.

A license can be limited. It can be revoked depending on the terms. The creator can use the work elsewhere. And if you ever want to modify the work, sell it, or use it in a way the original contract didn't cover, you may not have the right to.

The fix is one paragraph in the contract. It's called an assignment clause, and it explicitly transfers ownership of the work to you once payment is complete.
Audit one contract this week. If the assignment clause is missing, that's your next conversation.

Your Legal Backstop™ has contractor agreements with proper assignment language → htbizlaw.com/yourlegalbackstop

P.S. This kind of gap is exactly what my new book walks through. Paid, Protected & Profitable™ pre-sale opens July 28, releases August 4. Waitlist is open at htbizlaw.com/paidprotectedprofitable

When you sign a vendor's terms, you're agreeing to a framework they wrote, for them, not for you.Most business owners do...
06/27/2026

When you sign a vendor's terms, you're agreeing to a framework they wrote, for them, not for you.

Most business owners don't think twice about it. You hire a software company, a subcontractor, a fulfillment service, a marketing tool. They send over their standard terms. You click accept and move on.

The problem is, their terms protect them. They cover their liability, their data rights, their ability to change pricing, their right to terminate. Most of them don't cover yours.

For any vendor relationship that matters to your business, especially anyone handling your data, your clients, your operations, or your IP, you want your own protections in place.

That can look like:
A Master Services Agreement that governs the relationship from your side
A Data Processing Agreement for anyone handling client information
Confidentiality terms that fit your specific business
Service-level expectations and remedies if they're not met
Termination rights that actually work for you, not just them

This isn't paranoia. It's the standard for businesses operating with any kind of seriousness.

Your Legal Backstop™ includes the vendor agreement frameworks → htbizlaw.com/yourlegalbackstop

P.S. This kind of gap is exactly what my new book walks through. Paid, Protected & Profitable™ pre-sale opens July 28, releases August 4. Waitlist is open at htbizlaw.com/paidprotectedprofitable

Now that the waitlist has been open for a few weeks, a lot of you have been asking what's actually inside the book.Here'...
06/24/2026

Now that the waitlist has been open for a few weeks, a lot of you have been asking what's actually inside the book.Here's the short version.
Paid, Protected & Profitable™ is part legal, part business, part workbook. All practical.

Inside, you'll find:
🔹A practical IP audit, so you finally know what you actually own.
🔹LLC formation and the legal compliance scan most founders skip.
🔹Copyright, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets in plain English (not the legalese version).
🔹Website policies that keep you compliant (privacy, terms of service, disclaimers).
🔹How to work with independent contractors and actually own what they create for you.
🔹Spotting ownership and confidentiality risks before they become expensive problems.
🔹And the framework I've used with my clients for years to pull it all together.

Pre-sale opens July 28.
Waitlist subscribers get the pre-sale email first.→ htbizlaw.com/paidprotectedprofitable

This is the book I wish every small business owner had when they started.It is the conversation I have with clients ever...
06/18/2026

This is the book I wish every small business owner had when they started.

It is the conversation I have with clients every single week. About what they actually own. About how to charge for it. About how to protect what they have built so they can keep building. About how to stay out of trouble with their contracts.

Paid, Protected & Profitable™ is the small business owner's practical guide and workbook to contracts, protecting your work, and getting paid what you're worth.
Pre-sale opens July 28. The book releases August 4.

If you want to be first in line when the pre-sale window opens, the waitlist is open right now → htbizlaw.com/paidprotectedprofitable

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