221: Your I.P. Can Make Your Business Scalable and Saleable with Erin Austin

We talk quite a bit on this podcast about the value of creating frameworks.

A framework is the repeatable process you use with your clients to help them achieve a particular outcome.

We have our own Signature Talk Canvas® framework that we created and use when we work with our clients on their presentations.

Your framework is your intellectual property (I.P.), which becomes an asset to your business.

My guest in this episode is Erin Austin, who is an intellectual property attorney and the founder of Think Beyond IP. She helps B2B professional services firms identify, protect, and leverage their valuable intellectual assets.

Erin and I talk about:

• What it means for a business to be scalable and saleable
• Why you want to think in terms of what it would look like to sell your business even if you have no intention of doing so
• The different forms of intellectual property for service-based professional businesses and how to protect them (copyright, trademarks, etc.)
• Erin’s G.I.V.E. framework
• The importance of having a speaker contract
• The benefits Erin received from working with us in a VIP Day to create her signature talk

About My Guest: Erin Austin combines her decades of commercial transactions experience as a former COO and general counsel of IP-driven companies with her intellectual property law background to help professional services firms build and protect their assets to create scalable, saleable businesses. Her service has included roles as general counsel, head of business affairs and COO at large and small companies, including Warner Bros., Lionsgate (fka Artisan), MGM, Teaching Strategies and M3 USA Corp. Her experience as a lawyer and as an executive--at the intersection of business and the law--informs the elevated legal and strategic business advice she provides to her clients.

About Us: The Speaking Your Brand podcast is hosted by Carol Cox. At Speaking Your Brand, we help women entrepreneurs and professionals clarify their brand message and story, create their signature talks, and develop their thought leadership platforms. Our mission is to get more women in positions of influence and power because it's through women's stories and visibility that we challenge the status quo and change existing systems. Check out our coaching programs at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/221

Get Erin’s free checklist at https://www.thinkbeyondip.com/carol

Schedule a consult call with us to talk about creating your signature talk: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/contact.

Connect on LinkedIn:

• Carol Cox = https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox
• Erin Austin (guest) = https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/

Become Bookable Live Online Workshop - April 15, 2026
If you want to speak more but you’re not sure where to start or your efforts haven’t produced the results you want, I’m hosting a live online workshop called “Become Bookable: How to Get Speaking Invitations” on Wednesday, April 15th.

A lot of brilliant women assume they just need to pitch themselves more. But the real reason speakers get invited isn’t because they pitch harder — it’s because they’re positioned as bookable.

In this 3-hour interactive workshop live on Zoom, I’ll show you how speakers actually get invited — and help you clarify the positioning that makes event organizers say yes.

As a podcast listener, use the coupon code “Podcast100” to save $100 on your registration.

Learn more and register at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/bookable