Fundamentally, you’re missing the ship if you’re not doing social media marketing. -Rachel Brenke   Rachel was invited to be a guest on the Marketing For Your Boring Business Podcast by All-In-One Social Media.  Desiree Martinez, a fellow military spouse, interviewed her about how she uses social media marketing for her law firm.   Key points to listen to: What is one unique thing that Rachel does to market her law firm What you should be including in your messaging The importance of making connections and how to do it How to make a social media plan and how to use it How to know which marketing strategies are working for your business You can find this episode here: Audio only Video  Continue Reading

Rachel Brenke was joined with other amazing speakers such as Mat Best from Black Rifle Coffee, Jim Koch from Sam Adams, and JJ Pinter from Team RWB  at Military Influencer Conference in Orlando, Florida September 23-25, 2018.  You can view the whole speaker roster here. Brenke presented on the following topics: #1 Moving with the Military – VIP Session Moving a business is something many military-connected business owners need to undertake during the life of their business, but do you know how to do it legally and efficiently? This session will discuss how to make a decision about what type of legal entity is best for your situation, when to use foreign entity registration, and how to make sure your contracts and marketing are legal before and after the move! Key takeaways: The considerations for moving your business and how to do it legally. This session will be jam-packed with information...Continue Reading

You never have an issue until you have an issue. -Rachel Brenke   A few weeks ago, Rachel sat down with April Beach from the SweetLife Podcast to talk about how to protect all the hard work you have put into your businesses.   Key points to listen to: Steps to protect your Intellectual Property (IP) and what IP is the difference between copyright and trademark how to research trademarks so you don’t find yourself infringing on someone else’s the importance of registering your copyright an explanation of use license and why an hired person’s status (W-2 employee, independent contractor, etc) can affect how you use work they produce for you   Listen: This episode can be found at the SweetLife Podcast.  Continue Reading

We’re getting our tech on and discussing why you might need SSL security on your blog! Website security is a particularly hot button issue at the moment with several high profile security breaches which have led to usernames, passwords, credit card information, and even social security numbers being plastered all over the web.   What is SSL? You know the little green padlock on the address bar of your search engine? That is the evidence of SSL on a website. It’s also the reason why the beginning of your web address might read https:// rather than http://. In more technical terms, SSL means “Secure Sockets Layer”, and it is a technology that encrypts communications to and from your website.   Why might you need SSL on your website? When a SSL certificate is installed on a website, it provides encryption of sensitive data and communicates that your site is trustworthy...Continue Reading

Rachel Brenke will be featured during the live and rebroadcast feature with NBC Sports and Ironman Triathlon during Oct 13, 2018’s Ironman World Championship Race in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Brenke received a special invitation from Ironman to attend the 40th anniversary world championship race. [See video here] She was exclusively selected as one of two age-group athletes to be featured on both broadcasts – Live and    Formal Broadcast.  Her story of adversity in the face of cancer, raising five kids and a constantly deployed husband all bring her to this race. You can follow along on Brenke’s adventure on the FitLegally Instagram and Rachel Brenke Instagram. We will update this post and social media with the live broadcast links when available. For media inquiries – please email rachel@rachelbrenke.com Enjoy the behind-the-scenes from NBCSports/Ironman Tri production crew’s visit to Brenke’s home:      Continue Reading

This past weekend was our yearly conference/family trip to Cedar Point, Ohio for BloggyCon.  This has been a long-standing tradition with our family and I personally love it because I rarely get to take family on work trips with me!  So we rented a “church van”, loaded up and took off on an 8 hour road trip!     Run by Tiffany Noth of Bloggy Moms, this is a fantastic beginner blogging conference.  With topics on legalities (ahem..yours truly), social media platforms, search engine optimization and more – there is something for every type of blogger.     I had the pleasure of being the keynote speaker this year on the topic of “Protecting Your Piece of the Entrepreneurial Pie” – I went over topics of protecting your brand, your time and doing the proper legal things. Feedback from my presentation: I love how REAL @RachelBrenke is. None of us have...Continue Reading

2019 speaking schedule is filling up. I’m available on these topics: legal protections of business balancing family and biz growing multiple successful brands managing virtual teams launching new podcast at #6 on Apple podcasts charts growing biz as a #milspouse publishing books: self, house and otherwise consumer psychology misc – pitch me! All speaking and sponsorship inquiries can submit through here.  Continue Reading

Everyone makes mistakes. Every new small business owner makes mistakes. However, some of those mistakes can very easily avoided with a little bit knowledge. Help avoid some common pitfalls by learning from the four biggest legal mistakes that every small business owner makes.   1. Wearing Too Many Hats & Not Seeking Legal Help When you are starting your business it may feel like you are supposed to, should be, or even forced to, wear ALL of the hats. Your hands are full juggling designing your product, customer service, business plans, advertising initiatives, marketing strategies, legal concerns, and so much more. Obviously no one is equipped to be perfect in all of those positions and mistakes are easily made. When that mistake is of a legal nature the consequences can be huge. Taking off the “legal advice” hat and hiring an attorney to consult may be the top way, as...Continue Reading

Rachel Brenke will be joined with other amazing speakers such as Mat Best from Black Rifle Coffee, Jim Koch from Sam Adams, and JJ Pinter from Team RWB  at Military Influencer Conference in Orlando, Florida September 23-25, 2018.  You can view the whole speaker roster here. Brenke will have 2 sessions. #1 Moving with the Military – VIP Session Moving a business is something many military-connected business owners need to undertake during the life of their business, but do you know how to do it legally and efficiently? This session will discuss how to make a decision about what type of legal entity is best for your situation, when to use foreign entity registration, and how to make sure your contracts and marketing are legal before and after the move! Key takeaways: The considerations for moving your business and how to do it legally. This session will be jampacked with...Continue Reading

Today, information is literally at our fingertips at the touch of a button. You can find all the closest custom coffee cup makers in a 15-mile radius, how to clean your whole house with baking soda, or even reviews for that new gadget you were eyeing. Some of this information is even true! Most business owners ask their customers to leave reviews…and then worry what effect a possible negative review will have. So what will happen if there is a negative review, and is that even legal for a customer to do? What if the review comes from someone who never even used your product? The first concept to tackle here is what are people able to say or post online about your business?   The First Amendment The First Amendment reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging...Continue Reading

Today, more and more of our lives are playing out online. You pay your bills online, you order groceries online, and you look up lots and lots of advice online. Many business that were once traditionally brick-and-mortar are now transitioning to the digital world bringing with them countless legal questions. If you own an online business, then you know there are legal issues to consider when you have clients or customers in other states or even other countries. For example, you must know what taxes have to be collected and remitted to which jurisdictions. These considerations are even greater if your business deals with a profession that requires a license.   Licensed Professions What is a license? Essentially a license is the way a state says to the public that the license-holder has met certain requirements that allow them to practice their profession. Further, the state determines the manner in...Continue Reading

A potential client reached out to you and asked if you could create a product video review. You shot and produced the video, delivered your work, received payment, and even provided a copy of the original video you shot for the client’s use at trade shows. You believed that all was well, but then you saw your original video that you had provided for trade shows on the client’s YouTube channel. Your client had uploaded it and held it out to the public as her own. Now, you are thinking COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, but is it really??   The Copyright Is uploading the original video onto YouTube a case of copyright infringement? Maybe, maybe not! Isn’t the law fun? Let’s start with the basics. A copyright is the bundle of exclusive rights that the owner of the copyright holds. These rights are immediate upon creation of the original work and are...Continue Reading