Hi Reader,

First off, a huge thank you to the dozen of you that shared what you were stuck on, obsessed with, or curious about earlier this week. You sent some great ideas, and I’ve got lots to write about in the coming weeks.

I’m starting with the challenge that Jane and Pam sent, because many of you might be in the same boat and are thinking about bringing on holiday help.

For product-based businesses, the holiday season is crunch time, and when you make most of your sales.

But that comes with challenges. The challenge of making, packing, and shipping out a higher volume of products than you usually do. Not to mention the challenge of extra in-person holiday events where you sell directly to customers.

One way to deal with that challenge is to bring on help, just for the holidays or even just for the day of the show.

The short version is that legally, they are employees because you are in control. You are directing what they do, when they do it, and the supplies they use.

It doesn’t matter if you only use them for an event. It doesn’t matter if you only use them for a few months; they fail the IRS test, and by law are employees.

(Psst…not a product-based business hiring holiday help? Check out this post that gives other examples, including hiring a VA, to help you decide if your potential hire meets or fails the IRS test.)

Legally, this isn’t a grey area; they are clearly employees. So if I’m wearing my lawyer hat, I’m going to tell you to hire them as employees.

But when I take off my lawyer hat, I know that in some circumstances, this would be a barrier to you getting help. Hiring a payroll company, running payroll for a few months of the year, getting disability insurance, registering and reporting them to your state agencies, and everything else required to be an employer is overwhelming and will stop you from getting the help you need.

So what should you do? If you aren’t in a position to hire them as employees (which you should), then be very thoughtful about who you bring on.

The safest move is to use another business owner. You can hire a business that is designed to provide short-term employees (like an employment agency) or another small business that specializes in doing these kinds of tasks for other small businesses.

The reason this is the safest move is that it would ruin their business if they reported you to the labor board. So they won’t report you for hiring them as independent contractors (when they are really employees) because it would blow up their businesses. Or in the case of an employment agency, their contract will state that they are the employer of the person coming in to help you.

If that’s not an option, then someone that you already have personal ties with (a friend, close acquaintance, or family member) is your next safest bet, because they are less likely to report you to the labor board for not classifying them as employees because of your personal relationship.

👉 Your action item: If you are hiring, weigh the pros and cons so you can hire knowing the risks involved.

Hope that’s helpful to you, too, Reader,. Know another creative that might be in this boat? Forward them this email, so they can build their holiday season team intentionally, knowing the risks. (Got this forwarded to you? Check out the link in the footer to get them delivered to you!)

Got questions about hiring help? Have a hiring horror story to get off your chest? Come share your thoughts about smartly building a team on LinkedIn, Facebook, or just hit reply!

Chat soon,

P.S. I’ve been enjoying conducting member interviews the past few weeks. One suggestion is to bring back the book club that we did WAY back when. I’m seriously considering it, but I’m thinking of expanding it beyond books so we could also dive into shorter content like articles and videos. Before I move forward, I’d love your input. Would this be something you’d want to join in on? Cast your vote here.

Other things on my radar…

• Run an e-commerce shop? This blog post shares key takeaways to make sure your online store complies with US, UK, and EU accessibility laws.
• The U.S. Copyright Office has made it very clear that AI elements of a work are not eligible for copyright protection. But what happens when you aren’t truthful about that on your application? This article gives an overview of what is and isn’t eligible when AI is used and shares how one registration was proactively cancelled for failure to tell the truth.
• Copyright in characters was also a topic brought up by my email earlier this week, and today I saw this article about a recent court case dismissing a copyright infringement claim because the characters weren’t unique enough.

❤️ Easy to understand legal resources should be available to every creative, regardless of their financial situation. If one of my resources has helped you and you would like to say “thank you”, you can make a contribution here. ❤️