Legal Contracts Wellness Coaches Need and The Truth About AI ft. Paige Griffith

Understanding the exact legal requirements for health coaches is the foundation of a sustainable and protected online business. Are you worried about what you can legally say online? You are not alone! In this episode of the Fuel The Flow Podcast, host Valerie Feghali sits down with attorney Paige Griffith, founder of The Legal Paige, to demystify the legal landscape for online health, wellness, and nutrition professionals.

When starting out, many coaches feel overwhelmed by the legal side of the industry. Paige breaks down exactly why a medical disclaimer is non-negotiable for anyone giving health advice online and how to separate your coaching services from licensed medical practice. This comprehensive discussion explores essential website compliance rules, including privacy policies, website terms, and why "allow cookies" banners are more than just annoying pop-ups. Furthermore, the conversation tackles the massive risks of using AI (like ChatGPT) to draft your legal agreements, explaining why AI-generated contracts often miss the vital clauses that protect your income. Whether you are a functional medicine practitioner, a fitness coach, or a life coach, this episode serves as your ultimate guide to preventing liabilities, setting up strong coaching contracts, and building a legally sound foundation with complete confidence.

Free Medical Disclaimer Template: Grab Paige's free resource here: [Insert Link]
Wellness Vault (7-Day Free Trial): Juggling meal plans, guides, and social content? Start your free trial at https://wellnessvault.com/
Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction to the Legal Side of Coaching

Valerie welcomes attorney Paige Griffith to discuss the critical intersection of health coaching and business protection.

00:40 - The Bare Minimum Legal Requirements for Health Coaches

Paige outlines the absolute essential legal steps you must take before signing your very first online client.

02:13 - Crucial Elements of a Medical Disclaimer

A breakdown of exactly what needs to be included in your disclaimer to separate coaching from medical advice.

03:32 - Checkboxes vs. Signatures for Client Agreements

Discover the safest and most enforceable way to get clients to agree to your terms of service.

04:41 - Website Terms, High Traffic, and Clickwrap Agreements

How to protect your online assets when selling digital products or handling higher website traffic.

07:49 - The Dangers of Using AI for Legal Contracts

Paige explains the severe risks of using artificial intelligence to write your contracts and policies.

10:13 - Legally Selling Content Generated with AI

Understanding the legal boundaries and transparency required when using AI for content creation.

13:31 - Wellness Vault Community & Resources

A quick look at how Wellness Vault helps coaches streamline their content creation.

14:01 - Essential Policies for Coaching Websites

A guide to the specific legal pages every professional coaching website must display publicly.

15:54 - Privacy Policies and Protecting Client Data

Why safeguarding your clients' personal data is not just ethical, but a strict legal requirement.

19:03 - Cookie Consent: Do You Really Need It?

Clearing up the confusion around website cookies and international compliance laws like GDPR.

19:41 - Enforcing the Law on Online Coaching Businesses

What actually happens when a wellness coach fails to implement proper legal protections.

21:11 - The Confidence of Being Legally Covered

How having a rock-solid legal foundation allows you to show up more powerfully for your clients.

22:50 - Free Legal Resources and Episode Wrap-Up

⭐ MEET OUR GUEST

Paige Griffith

Helping creative entrepreneurs protect their business with confidence for over a decade. Founded in 2018 by small business attorney

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

AI, it's it's tough because you have no idea really where it's scrolling its data from. A lot of times it's outdated and there's new laws that may be in effect. I've been looking at AI contracts day in and day out, 10 to 20% of the way there. And you're going to be missing so many important clauses that you need in your contract. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

It's truthfully though, there's a lot of Welcome to the Fuel Your Flow podcast. I am your host, Valerie Figali, physical therapist, turned software CEO and business coach for health and wellness coaches. We are going to be talking about all things health and business. They might be more closely related than you think. So let's go ahead and get into it. Paige, thank you so much for being on today. I'm excited to be here. So I have to admit, when I first met you, I was like, I gotta sit at the opposite table here. Because honestly, it's one of those things where we start our businesses and the last thing we think about is the protecting our business from a legal standpoint. And it was almost like I didn't want to know what I didn't know already because I was worried that it was gonna cost me tens of thousands of dollars. But you have a way of really simplifying it. And so that's what I want to get into it with you is to figure out what are kind of the bare minimums that health coaches need in order to protect their business from a legal standpoint. So what are some must-haves that you feel medical, you feel health and wellness coaches need to have in place?

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Yeah, number one is a client agreement or online course agreement, membership agreement, whatever you have that's your paid offer. Second, that probably goes before that, but they go hand in hand. You really can't have one without the other, is website terms and conditions and a privacy policy. So the minute you put a website up, I want you to have both, and we can get into that. Third is because you're kind of in the health and wellness space, I want you to have some type of medical professional disclaimer in on your website, and we can talk about kind of where that goes and what it looks like. And then the very last thing that I just I want everyone to be aware of nowadays is kind of where AI plays into all of this. Do you need some type of disclaimer in your client agreement? Do you need it in your website con terms and conditions? When do you need it? And kind of what does that include?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Okay. So as far as medical disclaimer goes, let's talk about that first. What needs to be in that medical disclaimer and where do we put it? Do we have every single person sign it? Do we need just to just have it in our terms? Where does it go?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

I always suggest whatever kind of health and wellness professional that you are, even if you are board certified or you know, you have some type of licensure in your state, I still want you to have a disclaimer at the very, very bottom of your website. Okay. So it should be a sticky footer, meaning that it stays available for everyone to see on any page of your website. And so anywhere, you know, on the bottom where you have your logo, and then you have your your pol your your terms of use, you'll have your privacy policy, then you'll have your legal disclaimer right there written out. Okay. So not where you click it and then it opens up a new page. Got it. This is truly just a paragraph that sets that tone that you don't guarantee results, that it's really just for educational purposes only. And then, of course, disclaim if you aren't a certified medical professional and they need to seek the advice of a physician, okay, uh, if they need personalized advice. But if you are certified, then that's where you would also, you know, put your certifications, but you're not, you know, a physician, an accountant, you know, legal professional, anything along those lines.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Now, if somebody's actually buying something from that site, do you is it enough to have them just kind of check the box that they read the medical disclaimer, or do you have to have a written signature on that?

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah, no, you can so you I always say have the disclaimer on the bottom footer, always, so that people are aware of it. Because I'm sure you have blogs. I'm sure you have free downloads on your website. If you're kind of in the health and wellness space, it's usually kind of getting your foot in the door a little bit to have a prospective client or customer come your way. But if you are booking them as a client, you're going to basically put that entire paragraph in your client agreement. Okay. So you're doubling down there. Gotcha. And then you're also going to put it in your website terms and conditions. So you're doubling down there as well. But I just like the disclaimer to be right on the bottom, very visible to people in all respects. So you're not having to like scroll through a few pages of a website terms and conditions that we've all seen, the terms of use online. And it's just it's legal mumbo jumbo, and you're trying to scroll through and like kind of understand what it says. Uh, but for for you guys, it's really, really important that it it's really conspicuous to your users.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Now, with that, because I can see, okay, if it's on your client contract that you're having your one-on-one client sign or even like a small group sign, but what about for people who are like downloading freebies or getting digital course that are selling to thousands of people? It and it's not realistic for them necessarily to like deliver and make sure the contracts are signed. Is there a way around that?

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Yeah, it's called a click wrap agreement. So usually your checkout process, what there's so many platforms out there that you can kind of implement a checkout process with. And they will either have a box that you can copy and paste your online course agreement or subscription agreement, or maybe it's a one-on-one client agreement. Um, and then they need to be able to voluntarily either check a box or type in I agree. Okay. And that is enough. Okay. Uh what if you're doing more one-on-one client work? I do suggest that if you want to go that route and you want it quick and easy for people to sign up, that's fine. But maybe send them a copy of the client agreement thereafter. So the medical disclaimer to go back to your original question, they don't need to like initial and sign that medical disclaimer. It's okay that they just agree to the the whole host of the terms and conditions of your online agreement.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

So you would have that medical disclaimer live on the bottom of your website and then also live in your terms and agreement, uh, terms and conditions form so that when people check that box on the bottom, when they put their name and their email address into your website, they're checking the box. I agree to the terms and conditions, and that's enough.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yes. So there's kind of three things at play here. I just want to clear this up for people because we're getting into the legal world. And so sometimes it's difficult. And you were saying client agreement, terms of use. So it makes me just want to stop for a second and let people know. So terms and conditions are when I'm talking about that, I'm talking about website terms and conditions. Got it. So this is the how the users are using your website, and we can go deeper into that. I do want your medical disclaimer also to be in there. Okay. The client agreement is like the one-on-one work that you're doing with clients in the health and wellness space, okay? Then an online course agreement or a subscription membership agreement is different. It's a different contract, right? Because it's very different than one-on-one client work. It's more in a group environment, or they're just, you know, going through the online course themselves. Uh it's more, you know, of a self-process. Uh, that is more of okay, you're going through the checkout process and then you're typing either I agree, or usually it's a voluntary checkbox. The trick here is you don't want to have that box already checked.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Got it.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Or the I agree. You want some voluntary action from the person before they click submit. That makes sense. And then you would link those agreements. Got it. Yeah. And those probably live on a separate page of your website so people could go and look at it if, you know, we we all do this day in and day out. You're you're clicking an agreement, you can read through it if you want, but you're kind of scrolling to the bottom and you know. Hitting agree.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Hitting agree. Okay. But it's like you can't move on to the next step. It's a required field. That's it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yep. They wouldn't be able to check out without doing something.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Got it. Okay. Talk to us a little bit about AI. Because I know a lot of coaches now are kind of using AI to draft these medical agreements, medical disclaimers, excuse me, or these terms and conditions. So is that okay? Should they have a lawyer look at it? What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah, AI, it's it's tough because you have no idea really where it's scrolling its data from. A lot of times it's outdated and there's new laws that may be in effect. Uh the next thing is you're probably gonna miss something in your client agreement. So it'll it'll get you the bare bones. I'm not telling people not to use it. I am always someone that professes a contract is better than no contract. Right. So if you're if you if you ask it to create a contract for you, you're going to get, I would say, I I've been looking at AI contracts day in and day out, 10 to 20% of the way there. Oh wow. Yeah. And you're going to be missing so many important clauses that you need in your contract. Okay. So uh just, you know, make sure that you at least have some basic fee and payment terms, retainer terms, non-refundability language in certain instances, cancellation and rescheduling policies or like rollovers of calls, um, if it's group coaching or one-on-one coaching, and then a lot of boilerplate language or general provisions that you're going to see at the bottom that is more like governing law, uh, no transferability. So they couldn't like have someone take, you know, their place without your consent. They can't transfer their seat to somebody else. Um, and yeah, and then it's it's truthfully though, there's a lot of federal specifics with the health and wellness space. There's a lot of state specifics, and making sure that you have all of your certifications numbers in there as well, disclaimers in there. Um, so you right now you can kind of like have a checklist in your mind of all the things that I'm telling you. Uh, and I'll make sure that we get your listeners a link to our fitness contract. Okay. And really what that will do for them is they can click on the what's included tab. And I like to say this is a great cheat sheet or checklist for them to kind of we go line by line through every single heading. Yep. So here's what everything here's everything that needs to be in your contract. And there's probably a list of 30 of them. They can kind of use that as a checklist to see, okay, is AI giving me enough or is it super bare bones and I need to include more? That's super helpful.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Thank you for that. A lot of coaches are wanting to use AI more for the type of content that they're helping their clients with. And a lot of times they're they're using it in an ethical way where they're putting all the key points that they want, you know, all of the information that they want, and then they're just having AI kind of organize it or lay it out in a way that's presentable to their clients. But they get nervous that maybe they're not supposed to sell that. That can't be part of their package. So can you talk a little bit about are they able to sell some content that has an A AI part of it? And do they need an AI disclaimer with that?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Yes, I will stand on my hill for a very long time regarding this. It's all about transparency and disclaiming that you used AI. Okay. Right now we kind of live in this trust recession. I think we've heard that that term is thrown around quite a bit. But legally speaking, it means a lot, especially to the FTC right now in the US Copyright Office. So the U.S. Copyright Office was kind of the first, you know, governance platform to really look into AI and what it means when some AI platform is generating output for copyrighted material. So was it wholly human-created, or at least the majority of it was wholly human created? And so we first saw kind of the transparency with someone who is filing a registrable work through the US copyright office. Now they're saying you have to disclaim AI use in order for this to actually go through copyright registration. And they, you know, they have all kinds of education going out right now, so you can just go to, you know, the copyright.gov um copyright office and you can you can learn a lot there. So they were saying that first, and now we've got the FTC coming out. And the FTC is looking at unfair and deceptive business practices. It's all about consumer protection.

unknown 12:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

So for consumers, we we know that we live in an AI world, and consumers want to know that it's your point of view and your experience and whatever you know, health credentials you have and your knowledge base is going into it, your education is going into it, and that you had the human touch on the final product that they're going to get. Okay. So you have to have some type of disclaimer. I would suggest that you put it's another clause, clause, aka little paragraph that you're putting in a contract saying that yes, AI may be part of the, you know, origin process of any of the works or downloadable materials that you may be getting, um, or nutrition plans, or, you know, any exercise plans or things along those lines. But there was a human that looked it over, revised it as necessary, and you know, you're getting my point of view, so to speak. That's kind of what this paragraph is saying. So website terms and conditions, I suggest that you put it in there. It's just a little paragraph. And that's because you're gonna have, again, downloadable things on your website or blogs or things that people are, you know, looking at, getting information from, but maybe started with AI in some respect. And then client agreements as well. If you have if you have any part of the workflow and processes of working one-on-one with clients that involve AI, you want to put that clause in there as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Okay. Hey, sorry to interrupt, but if you are a health or wellness professional and you haven't yet checked out the wellness vault, you're missing out. The wellness vault is a content hub for coaches who create their own plans and programs for their clients, run workshops, create digital guides, and so much more. You can now do all of this in a fraction of the time so you can focus on your clients and grow your business faster than ever with more U time. The link to the Wellness Vall is in the show notes. So go sign up for your free trial today. Let's talk, go back to websites because we keep kind of bringing it up, but then people are still confused. Like, what do I need to have on my website to make this like a legit legal website? So let's go back to that for a second because we mentioned it quickly in the very, very beginning. But what few things do people need to have on the website aside from kind of their medical disclaimer that makes it legal?

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yep. Medical disclaimer. You're gonna have it sticky and it's in word format. It's like a paragraph at the bottom, footer. Okay. Then you're going to have a clickable part that says terms of use, terms and conditions. Okay. And then you also want another clickable part that says privacy policy. Those should be two different documents, but they go hand in hand. What are they? So terms of use is really how users are using your website. You're explaining that you your website is copyrighted and they can't misuse it.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

So just to be clear, this is the website, it's not your product. This the terms and conditions on the website are about your website.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

It is just about your website. I will get to like a digital product purchase and use agreement here in a second, but I don't think everyone has that, right? Some people are just getting started, they're trying to build their, you know, prospective clientele base. So when you have a website, I want you to have TNCs. Those aren't legally required, they're just a really good idea. Okay. Makes you look more professional. Uh, it limits warranties and there's limited liability on that. You're talking about governing laws, which is important based on where you live and not where the user is anywhere in the United States or world where they could like alien to court. You don't want that. Um, and then of course, just how users can use your website, explaining that it's copyrighted, imagery, um, any copy on your website, those types of things. So intellectual property, limiting liability, disclaiming warranties, um, and you know, maybe some AI usage would be in there as well, and then the boilerplate language like governing law.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Okay, and then your privacy policy? What is that?

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah, so privacy policies are required by law. Okay. So the GDPR, the CCPA, and many other state privacy acts are coming up now. California is kind of the trickle-down effect, you know, GDPR in Europe was the trickle-down effect to the US really beefing up its privacy laws, and privacy is just of concern for people, right? So if you are taking any type of personal information from people, of course, their name in an opt-in, right? Put in your name, put in your email, boom, a privacy policy is required. Okay. If you are taking people's phone numbers, of course, then you kind of have SMS laws also that need to be involved in your privacy policy. SMS laws can be very, very strict across the United States and they're getting stricter by the day. Texas just put out an extremely strict law as of September 1st. And then, of course, if you're taking people's credit card information, anything along you, you have to have a privacy policy for that. And what a privacy policy does is it's the who, what, when, where, why of taking people's information. So who are you taking it from? Why are you taking it? Where are you putting it? Probably just on your email list for marketing and advertising purposes. A lot of opt-out procedures need to occur. If you're if you're just doing Google Analytics and or doing MetaPixels in any respect, you have to have a privacy policy because now you've got cookie settings that need to be applied here. So really just go to a reputable source, like a virtual lawyer. There's lots of us out there. Um, and we have these bundles where you can get the website terms and conditions and a privacy policy. Yep. And you can just copy and paste them, you walk through, we we hand hold you through exactly how to fill this out yourself, put in your business information, and then boom, copy and paste it and put it on your website. Yes. And then when you get it from someone like us too, we are looking at laws, we're updating laws, we've got our finger on the pulse. Yeah. And when things change, you will get an update to them. So just also make sure that you're either buying a template from a lawyer that will do that and make sure that they update, or just work with an attorney that will do that as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Amazing. And it's affordable because yeah, people are thinking, listening to this, probably thinking, oh my gosh, I have to go find an attorney. And the time and the money that all goes into that. But I love that you do the templates that make it just so much easier for people to actually just start with the foundations, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yep, just the foundations. A digital product purchase and use agreement or like, you know, product usage is when you're selling some type of digital product on your website. So there is like a checkout process. If you have low-ticket offers, a website TNC isn't going to do anything, right? But you need more of this is a copyrighted work. It's there's one license to use for your business or for personal purposes. You can't go and resell. There's no resale rights here. Um, and then, you know, a lot of other things regarding probably non-refundability because they get the digital product in their hands, and then you have no control over how it's being used after that, no dissemination to third parties, things along those lines. So that is a separate one, but that's that that again, there's a lot of things that you guys will just now kind of get accustomed to seeing on the bottom footer of websites. Right. And that's where you put them.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Speaking of that, the cookies that we see, you know, accept or decline, does that need to be on every website or just if you have it in your privacy policy, is that enough?

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Nope. For the most part, cookie pop-ups are required by law.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yep, and especially if you're reaching anyone in Europe under the GDPR, it is required. Okay. Um, so there's really few exceptions here. And for the most part, your website platform should be able to enable some type of opt, uh, like uh pop-up of some sort where they can opt in or opt out. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

I don't want to freak people out and freak you and tell people like, don't start your business because there's all these things you're gonna get sued, that which isn't the case. So who actually goes after people? Like, when would you get sued for not having some of these things? Is it the consumer that's filing a complaint or is it the state? Like, who's actually filing these complaints?

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Usually it's a consumer and sometimes it's random users. I I don't ever like to be a scare tactic lawyer. Um, but recently in my lawyer group that we have a group chat, there's all these really, really random consumer complaints coming up all the time, like day in and day out, and they're going after kind of smaller businesses. Um, so it you the the chances are low, but it's not impossible. Yeah. The FTC is really only going to go after big fish for the most part, unless they get enough consumer complaints. But usually a consumer complaint is gonna first come through your state, um, or they might just submit a complaint to a plaintiff's lawyer, and then the plaintiff's lawyer could come after your business. Okay. So make try to make sure that you have all of these. I'll make sure that they're linked for everyone. And if you guys have any questions, you can always reach out to me and I can walk through them a little bit more for you. Okay. Uh so due diligence is really important. Having enough education and knowledge as a business owner on the legal stuff in your business, because it the online world is like the Wild West and consumers are getting smarter. Yep. And they, you know, so make sure you also have an insurance policy as well. Um, because that can really kick in and help you in these instances.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Absolutely. Okay. So just to send people off, because again, we don't want to freak people out. The good thing is that once you have these, so if you use pages templates, for example, once you have them placed, like you have them placed. It might take some time to kind of set them up, where to put it, how do I actually tangibly get this onto my website for people to sign and that or check off and that type of thing. But once they're there, they're there. Page will send updates and you need to go in every now and then and update it. So it's not this huge monster that we're dealing with on a constant, you know, r cyclical basis. It's more like a one time, let's place them, let's get this secure, correct?

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Yes, absolutely. So it's just the cost of doing business, just like brick and mortars, they have to go through a lot of loopholes, a lot of bureaucracy, a lot of permits and licensing. You need to do the same thing as a b uh online business owner. And this is the Very first thing you do, like when you're setting up your social media and you're setting up your website and you're trying to build a client list, also don't forget about these legal protections. Put them in place, you're good to go. And then due diligence, I would say at least once a year is a good approach. Um, whenever you kind of sit down and do the back end business stuff as a business owner, whatever that is throughout the year. Um I suggest at least once a year. Um and you're just kind of, you know, you're looking at it's a it's a good time to do it like during tax season where you're you're kind of deep in your numbers. You should go back and kind of look at your client agreements, look at your website terms and conditions. If you get, you know, an email from us or an update from us, then that's a good time to look at it as well. Um and yeah, make sure you have insurance, set yourself up as an LLC, get these contracts in place, and then you're good to go. And then you can just move on and you can use these time and time again.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Okay. So we will put all of that in the show notes, the templates that Paige has for health and fitness professionals. I think you said you have a medical disclaimer that you can give just a free like for free to your audience. Amazing. So you'll find that in the show notes. Yep, we'll give you guys a free one.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

And then where else can they find you? They can find me at the legal page, thelegal.com. I have lots of blogs and YouTube and podcasts as well. And then we are also on Instagram and I give legal tips on there each and every day. Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Thank you so much. Thanks. I hope you enjoyed our conversation from today. Any links we discussed will be in the show notes below. Also, we would be incredibly grateful if you would leave us a five star review. This helps us keep the podcast going so that we can continue to provide value for all of you. I hope we see you on the next one.