The Unread Contract: What You Don't Know Is Already Costing You

One of the goals I had for myself this year was to be a speaker. Conferences, panels, podcasts. Wherever they'd have me.

Why? Because while I'm a bad ass attorney, I know in my heart that the reason I was put on this Earth is to speak to young people. Specifically to young women. It's the coach and the teacher in me. I am the most lit up when I'm in a gym coaching young gymnasts or on a panel talking to young people. It's my passion. I've known it since the first day I coached gymnastics, and it gets reinforced every time I'm in a classroom in front of young people, channeling my inner Evelyn and Dave Green. That's mommy and daddy to me, still, at 47 years old. My mommy was a Chemistry professor. My daddy was a Math professor. I sat in both of their classes more than once and was always inspired by their brilliance.

So with that goal in mind, I signed up for a workshop called Speakpreneur Chicago, held March 6 and 7, 2026.

In two days, I learned that facts tell, but stories sell. You can hand someone a fact and they'll nod and keep scrolling. Tell them a real story and they can't look away. I already believed that. Now I believe it in my bones. The workshop was part educational and part sales event. Every speaker eventually got around to selling the room on how working with them could turn speaking into a profitable business.

I left the event fired up and ready to record myself every day for 30 days, to see how I spoke and critique myself so I could improve. That was one of the homework assignments. I'm gonna be honest, I only got to day two. But I promise I will finish the 30 days before this year ends.

One thing I did do coming out of that workshop was set up time to talk with one of the main speakers about working with his organization. On March 11th, we talked, and fifteen minutes in, I'd agreed to sign up for one of his programs. I told him, "I really want to get the opinion of my leadership coach, who also happens to be one of my dearest friends, before I decide to move forward." But if you've ever been on a call with someone really good at selling, you know how he got me to yes anyway, before I'd talked to my thought partner.

Immediately after making that investment, I texted my leadership coach and dear friend to share my excitement. He called me two and a half hours later. I downloaded the whole conversation for him and explained why I'd made the decision. We talked for about an hour, and somewhere in there, he told me about a program that would go on to transform me in ways I still can't fully put into words. I'm trying, though, as I write this.

He said, "Mel, have you heard of or do you follow Natalie Ellis?" I said no. He told me he'd followed her for a while, used some of her products and resources, and loved her marketing. "She's running an eight week program starting March 17th on how to build a sales funnel," he said. "I vouch for her. If you want to make an investment in yourself and your business, think about this one." I said to myself, "Self" (because that's what I call myself), "THIS is why I wanted to talk to him before I committed to the other program."

I read Natalie's sales page for Freedom Fast Track. Between what I read and my coach's seal of approval, I knew. Less than five hours after agreeing to one investment, I got my money back and made a different one instead.

And every day, I am happy with that decision. Every. Single. Day!

In eight weeks, I learned more than how to build a sales funnel. I learned to think differently about how I serve the people I want to serve. I learned a different language. And learning new things is one thing I love more than almost anything. Growth is one of my core, deal breaker values. I will choose the path that leads to new learning and growth all day, every day, and twice on Sundays.

Now, I'm getting ready to launch my first sales funnel, for The Unread Contract Reckoning, and honestly, I'm equal parts nervous and excited. Excited to be doing something new. Nervous for the exact same reason.

This offer is built for the service based small business owner who's been using an agreement in their business for a few years but has never actually read it all the way through, or never had it reviewed by an attorney. Maybe a friend gave it to them and they just swapped out the names and payment details, but never read it (my leadership coach admitted he did exactly that). Maybe they pulled it from Google, from a business that looked similar to theirs, and figured it was fine since nothing had gone wrong yet. Maybe they built it with ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI tool, and it looks like it has all the right bells and whistles, but they don't actually know for sure.

The stories I keep collecting

I don't say that to guess. Facts tell, stories sell. So here's what these situations actually looked like.

A client came to me in a tough spot. She'd signed a services agreement without having it reviewed, and when she went to get out of the one part that was losing her real money, she realized she had no right to terminate it. We had to go back to the other side and negotiate an exit that should have been there from the start. They didn't have to say yes.

A client used AI to draft a letter of intent for a two million dollar acquisition. It looked right. It read right. It was missing a no-shop clause, the piece of language that would have kept the seller from shopping the deal to other buyers. She had no way of knowing to ask for it, so there was no way AI could have known to include it either.

I was reviewing a friend’s coaching agreement before I signed it, and as I went through it, I found provisions that were missing entirely, and others sitting in places they never should have been. He admitted he’d never actually read the whole thing before.

And then there's my best friend, who handles my bookkeeping. I sent her an eight page independent contractor agreement. She called me and said, "Mel, what is this? I need something shorter." I told her it was already on the shorter side for what it covered. Her response: "Yeah, I'm not reading all of that." She signed it anyway. A few weeks later, she asked why her invoice hadn't been paid. I pointed her to the payment terms she'd signed and never read. We still crack up about it. It worked out fine, because it was me on the other side. It doesn't always work out fine.

To get started, I've created The Unread Contract Eye-Opener checklist that walks small business owners through 10 specific provisions in one of their contracts. It tells you what each provision looks like, what it's supposed to do for your business, and what happens when it's missing or when the language isn't doing its job.

And once your eyes are open to the gaps in your contract, my offer, The Unread Contract Reckoning, is the answer to the question, "Now how do I fix it?"

What's the contract you've been using that you've honestly never read all the way through? Tell me in the comments.

I've got you,

Mel

Making you unstoppable despite uncertainty.