Sam Vander Wielen - Legal Contracts for Online Coaches & Service-Providers

Directions Website Contact the business

Sam Vander Wielen - Legal Contracts for Online Coaches & Service-Providers Attorney-turned entrepreneur who helps online business owners get legally protected using my contract templates and the Ultimate Bundle®. Thank you so much!

Author of "When I Start My Business, I'll Be Happy" and the host of the On Your Terms®️ podcast Sam Vander Wielen is an attorney-turned-entrepreneur and legal educator who helps coaches & service-providers legally protect and grow their online brands through her legal templates and signature program, the Ultimate Bundle™️. Sam lives on Long Island with her husband Ryan, and their dog Hudson. If you’ve always associated attorneys with words like “shark,” “intense,” and “cutthroat,” you’re in for a down-to-earth breath of legal fresh air from Sam. Although Sam is AN attorney, she's not YOUR attorney and never will be. Sam doesn't practice law or offer legal advice. You should consult with your own local attorney if you'd like legal advice or guidance on your personal or business situation.

Comment "CLASS" for my free live training this Monday 🔐⁠⁠"Start before you're ready" might be the most repeated line in ...
10/16/2026

Comment "CLASS" for my free live training this Monday 🔐⁠
⁠
"Start before you're ready" might be the most repeated line in online business. And I actually agree with it.⁠
⁠
Waiting to feel ready is how people never start. I've watched good people with good ideas sit on them for years waiting for a feeling that was never coming.⁠
⁠
But somewhere along the way it turned into permission to skip everything. 🫠⁠
⁠
So here's the distinction I wish someone had made for me.⁠
⁠
‼️ Some things are fixable later. Some things get expensive later.⁠
⁠
🛠️ Fixable later: your branding, your website, your pricing, your niche, your whole offer. ⁠
⁠
💸 Expensive later: the entity you set up, the contracts you used or didn't, the terms people already agreed to, who owns what.⁠
⁠
The first list is where perfectionism goes to waste your time. The second list is where skipping actually costs you.⁠
⁠
👇🏻 Comment “CLASS” to join my free legal class where I'll cover this on Monday, Oct 19. It’s my last one of the entire year… and it fills up FAST! Can’t make it live? Sign up to get the replay. See you there!

10/15/2026

Launching in Public (part 4) Building the slides ✍🏻⁠
⁠
The live class is on Monday. The slides are not done. 🫠⁠
⁠
I'm doing this whole launch in public, so you get the unglamorous parts too. Like this one.⁠
⁠
I've taught this class live more times than I can count, and I still basically redo the deck every single time.⁠
⁠
The legal side of online business doesn't sit still. What you needed to know last spring isn't the whole picture anymore.⁠
⁠
And this fall, it feels like there's more than ever:⁠
🤖 AI, and who actually owns what you make with it⁠
🔐 Privacy, and what you're collecting from your audience (whether you meant to or not)⁠
💻 ADA website lawsuits, the thing I got the most panicked messages about this year⁠
⁠
So my job this week is adding all of that without cutting any of the good stuff.⁠
⁠
Because I don't just want to tell you what's changing.⁠
⁠
‼️ I want to tell you exactly what to do about it. ‼️⁠
⁠
That's the difference between info that stresses you out and info you can actually use.⁠
⁠
Whether you're in year 1 or year 10, this is your chance to get your legal ducks in a row before 2026 ends.⁠
⁠
It's free, it's live, and it's my last live legal workshop of the entire year. 🥳⁠
⁠
📍 Monday, Oct 19 at 3 PM ET⁠
⁠
Comment "CLASS" and I'll send you the link to register. Can't make it live? Register anyway, and I'll send you the replay. ☕️

Comment "CLASS" for my last free live legal class of 2026 🔐⁠⁠Someone told me recently that she doesn't have a website. N...
10/14/2026

Comment "CLASS" for my last free live legal class of 2026 🔐⁠
⁠
Someone told me recently that she doesn't have a website. Not because she didn't want one. Because she thought she'd have to publish her home address on it.⁠
⁠
She talked herself out of a whole business over something that isn't true. 🫠⁠
⁠
So let's clear up the three I hear most.⁠
⁠
‼️ Your website may need a mailing address or an email address where people can reach you. It never has to be your home address, or even the one you registered your business with.⁠
⁠
‼️ Your newsletter does need a mailing address on every single send; that's the CAN-SPAM Act. But a PO Box, a virtual mailbox, or your email provider's address all work perfectly well.⁠
⁠
‼️ You can't run a business completely anonymously. You can't sign contracts in a name that isn't yours and expect to enforce them. But you also don't have to hand over your entire life to be here.⁠
⁠
In 10 years online, I've watched lawsuit trends and privacy panics come and go. The real question is whether you want a business, and whether you want that business to be online.⁠
⁠
If you do, some of this just comes with it. Letting people get to know you, and still keeping yourself safe... Those two aren't opposites. 👀⁠
⁠
Which one of these had you convinced? Tell me below. 👇🏼⁠
⁠
Comment "CLASS" and I'll save you a seat for October 19 for my last free live legal class this year! 💌

10/13/2026

Launching in Public (Part 3): The email strategy behind a six-figure launch. 💌⁠
⁠
I'm about to send more emails in the next two weeks than most people send all year. On purpose. And it'll probably make me a few hundred thousand dollars. 👀⁠
⁠
Here's how I see it. My email list is the backbone of my entire launch. I own my list. ⭐ Unlike social media, where an algorithm decides who sees me, I actually know the people who signed up will get what I send. ⁠
⁠
So let me pull back the curtain on my launch email strategy. 🗓️⁠
⁠
👉🏻 Five teaser emails. ⁠
👉🏻 Six invites. ⁠
👉🏻 Six show-up reminders. ⁠
👉🏻 And 13 sales emails. ⁠
⁠
📧 That's 30 emails in four weeks.⁠
⁠
I know that sounds like a lot. Stay with me, because here's the real secret. 💡⁠
⁠
Every one of these emails is laser-focused on my customers' most common pain points. And I obsess over using their exact words. ⁠
⁠
Now here's the part for you. 🙌🏻⁠
⁠
Even if you've got 200 people on your list right now, or you're nowhere near ready for a big multi-week launch, try this: Block off two weeks in your content calendar. Focus entirely on your customer's pain point, pitch your thing as the solution, and include a link to join now. That's it. That's the whole play.⁠
⁠
🔐 Comment "CLASS" and I'll save you a seat at my last free live legal training of the year, where I'll teach you how to start an online business that's actually protected, so you can breathe easy knowing you did it right.⁠
⁠
📣 It's live Monday, October 19th. Comment "CLASS" to grab your spot, and yes, you'll get the replay. 💌

10/12/2026

Here's an uncomfortable truth: A lot of business owners, brand new ones and super established ones, are accidentally breaking the law and have absolutely no idea. 👀⁠
⁠
The good news is that it really doesn't have to be that way.⁠
⁠
It's easier than ever to start a business online. ✨ And the steps to start it the right way, to make sure both it and you are actually protected? Those are surprisingly easy too. ⁠
⁠
Which is exactly why every single fall I host my live legal workshop, "How to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business Before 2026 Ends." ⚖️⁠
⁠
It's for the thousands of brand new business owners figuring this out, and for everyone quietly thinking "oops, I may have skipped the legal stuff entirely." 😅 No judgment here. Truly.⁠
⁠
Let me show you how simple the legal side can actually be. 💡 And I'll catch you all the way up on the changes happening online right now- everything hitting your business from AI to the wave of ADA lawsuits going around, to the shifts in your own privacy.⁠
⁠
📣 It's my last free legal workshop of the entire year, live on Monday, October 19th.⁠
⁠
🔐 Comment "CLASS" and I'll get you registered. It fills up fast, so don't wait, and yes, I'll send you the replay. 💌

10/12/2026

✈️ Three months before I left corporate law, I thought my plane was going down.

Halfway between Amsterdam and Philadelphia, we hit turbulence so bad the plane dropped and rolled. I thought that was it.

In that moment, I realized something:

I’d been waiting for something to happen. 🕰️

Waiting for the right time. Waiting for my side business to be “ready.” Waiting for permission.

Within three days of landing, I:
✅ Bought a domain name
✅ Registered my LLC
✅ Set up business insurance
✅ Wrote my contracts

By August, I walked out of the firm.

But here’s the part people skip: I didn’t just leap. I’d been preparing financially for months. That preparation is what made the leap survivable.

On this week’s episode of On Your Terms®, I’m sharing how I knew it was time to leave and the steps I’d take before giving notice.

Episode link in the comments!

Comment "CLASS" for my free live training on getting your business legally sorted before the year ends 🔐⁠⁠Let's talk abo...
10/09/2026

Comment "CLASS" for my free live training on getting your business legally sorted before the year ends 🔐⁠
⁠
Let's talk about the thing nobody in this space wants to say out loud.⁠
⁠
Someone can buy your program, download every file the same day, and file a chargeback before dinner. And they will probably win.⁠
⁠
We have every legal thing in place over here. It still happens. 🫠⁠
⁠
I've watched it get more common and more brazen, and I don't think that's a coincidence. People have run the numbers and figured out the odds are in their favor.⁠
⁠
‼️ So here's where I've landed.⁠
⁠
There is a list of things you control: A refund policy that actually says something. Terms people genuinely agreed to. Records of what you delivered and when. That handles most of it.⁠
⁠
And there's a list you don't control, which is short. It's just: other people.⁠
⁠
But please hear this part: It is not a reason not to start. Every business has a cost of doing business, and knowing yours means you plan for it instead of getting blindsided.⁠
⁠
Has this happened to you? Tell me below; I know I'm not the only one. 👇🏼

10/08/2026

Your quiz lead magnet might be holding people hostage. 😬

At an author mastermind last week, I got a masterclass from someone who has grown MILLIONS of subscribers with quizzes. Here’s what she taught me 👇

🧠 The quiz has to promise that people will learn something interesting about themselves.

🪣 Your results need distinct buckets.

🔄 Sometimes flipping the question works better. Asking “Which trait is your worst?” can get more curiosity than “Which is your best?”

📩 Offer the results as a valuable report you’d love to send them. Don’t hide their answers until they hand over their email.

Same opt-in, way better experience.

I break down the rest of the marketing lessons from that room on the latest episode of On Your Terms®. Link in the comments!

10/08/2026

You went viral, congratulations. 🎉⁠
⁠
Now here's the part nobody warned you about.⁠
⁠
You went from a few eyeballs on your stuff to thousands of dollars overnight. The dream, right? One piece of content or one launch that went perfectly. ✨⁠
⁠
But all that money and attention brought something you didn't expect. Witnesses. 👀⁠
⁠
Witnesses to the fact that you don't have real contracts in place or a properly registered business.⁠
⁠
And all those sales you just made without a legit contract behind them? Let me show you how that movie ends. 😬⁠
⁠
🚩 Six months later, a wave of those people file chargebacks with their credit card companies. You lose every single appeal, because you had nothing in writing to back you up.⁠
⁠
🚩 A year later, you spot one of your customers on Instagram selling your program as her own, because she was "so inspired" by the one she took from you. Turns out you never copyrighted your content. And the contract you were missing? It never spelled out her usage rights. So she just takes it and walks. ❌⁠
⁠
Overnight success sounds fun. But if none of the legal pieces are in place when it hits, it can unravel just as fast as it came.⁠
⁠
Here's the truth I've learned over 10 years. ⭐⁠
⁠
The business owners who last aren't always the ones who blow up the biggest. They're the ones who set things up right, so they can keep showing up year after year, launch after launch, still selling and still serving.⁠
⁠
In my last free legal workshop of the year, I'll teach you exactly how to build an online business that's actually protected. So when you do go viral, you get paid, your content stays yours, and you personally are covered. ⚖️⁠
⁠
📣 It's live Monday, October 19th, and it's completely free.⁠
⁠
🔐 Comment "CLASS" and I'll save your seat for "How to Legally Protect & Grow Your Online Business Before 2026 Ends." Seats fill up fast, and yes, I'll send you the replay. See you on the 19th! 💌

10/07/2026

I've sold over $10M online. Here are the 3 things that worry me most about online business right now. 👇

1️⃣ AI. The law hasn't caught up to voice cloning, face cloning, or what happens to your copyright when you put your content into an LLM. And at the same time, new AI labeling laws are on their way.

2️⃣ Website accessibility lawsuits. There's been a huge uptick this year. Websites should be accessible, period. And the good news is it's so easy to fix.

3️⃣ Your privacy. So many of you are scared to start a business because you don't want your address, your kids, or your partner all over the internet. You don't have to share any of that to be successful.

I'm digging into all three in today's new episode of On Your Terms® Link in the comments!

Address

Atlanta, GA

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Sam Vander Wielen - Legal Contracts for Online Coaches & Service-Providers posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Sam Vander Wielen - Legal Contracts for Online Coaches & Service-Providers:

Shortcuts

Share