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Guest post by: Jim Yaghi Become an Author

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Driving through Santa Monica, couple years back, 2 young ladies riding with me ask about the Tiptronic gear on the rental car.

Figured I’d demonstrate it at the next traffic light.

No sooner do I get to “third” when a cop car pops out of an intersection, chases me, and eventually pulls me over.

There I sit, in the car waiting for him to come to the window. Only after he arrives, do I let it “roll” down.

Glance briefly at his name tag. “Chan”.

“License and registration, please,” he says curtly.

From my wallet, I produce the Australian license I carry on such business trips. I pass it to him with a simple smirk on my face.

He proceeds to lecture – You may not drive on a non-US license in this state.

I protest. The rental company shouldn’t have rented me the car if this were true.

He inquires about my speed.

Cooly, I respond. It was only about 30 mi/hr or so. “Sir”.

He disagrees. You were most certainly driving faster than that…I couldn’t keep up with you – I tried!

I countered. Sir. With all due respect, that is not a fair way to measure speed. Acceleration is the rate of velocity increase over time squared. You were at rest while I was moving which means you would have had to break the speed limit to reach the same level of acceleration I needed to reach my speed of 30mi/hr.

Dumbfounded with my response, he exchanges more pointless words.

Finally, he releases me back on the road without trouble.

PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY.

Police always ask your speed when they pull you over.

They’re looking for a confession so they can put it on the speeding ticket they write.

Without it, and without a speed camera, they cannot really disprove any speed you say.

Which is an important point. Knowing the law, and knowing more in all things than others around you can keep you out of big messes.

In business, knowing the law is important.

Online, entrepreneurs are mainly amateurs and few care about legalities.

But understanding certain aspects of law can do more than protect you from trouble.

It can help you make MORE money.

For example, last year, one well-known Internet Marketing company objected to my advertisements. “Apparently” my ads were showing on searches for their business’ trademarked name. Their legal division sent me a threatening letter demanding I remove my ads immediately.

Allow me to confess this:

Intentionally and most secretly, I targeted their customers.

But they had no way of knowing that. They were not capable of looking inside my campaigns to see which keywords I used. The only proof they had was that my ads showed up on ALL related searches to their business.

The actual trademark was NEVER used on any advertisements or pages of my website.

But clearly, i was taking business from them.

And Google didn’t seem to mind.

How?

I knew the advertising platform well. I targeted every term related to their business without ever using their trademark. I did it so expertly that it only took about 10 keywords to cover most searches ever done on their business’ name.

After a few exchanges with them in which I defended my position (without ever admitting to explicitly targeting them) I was able to force them to leave me alone with their tail tucked between their legs.

And I continued to profit from that campaign for the rest of the summer.

The lesson?

Get a working knowledge of the law.

Particularly in all things to do with your business.

Oh...and by the way…although I rarely speed and do not condone it by any means...I was NOT doing 30 mi/hr in Santa Monica…it was more like 45.

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Referred by: http://karennewman.net/

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