Terms of Service

Welcome to The Coastal Collaborative. These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the website located at thecoastalcollab.com (the "Site"), the customer portal (the "Portal"), our free assessment tools, and any services, digital products, or offerings sold or delivered through the Site, Portal, or otherwise (collectively, the "Services").

By accessing the Site, registering for the Portal, using a free assessment tool, purchasing Services, communicating with us, or otherwise engaging with The Coastal Collaborative, LLC ("Company," "we," "us," or "our"), you ("Client," "you," or "your") agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Site, the Portal, or purchase Services.

1. About Us

The Coastal Collaborative, LLC is a North Carolina limited liability company located at 322 S College Rd #1159, Wilmington, NC 28403. We provide systems integration and workflow automation, AI search visibility services (AEO, GEO, and SEO), website and funnel development, AI integration, fractional operations consulting, and related digital products.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old, of legal age to form a binding contract in your jurisdiction, and not barred from receiving Services under applicable law. By using the Site or Portal, you represent and warrant that you meet these requirements and that all information you provide is accurate, current, and complete.

3. Acceptance and Modifications to These Terms

We may update these Terms at any time. Material changes will be communicated by posting a new "Last Updated" date on this page, and where appropriate, by email, in-Portal notice, or other reasonable means. Your continued use of the Site, Portal, or Services after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not accept the revised Terms, you must stop using the Services.

4. Services Offered

We offer Services that may include, but are not limited to:

Get Connected (Systems and Automation). Integration of your business tools, including CRM, scheduling, payments, email, SMS, and AI workflows. May include work in platforms such as Asana, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Zapier, Make, and comparable systems. Includes AI workflow design and client-onboarding builds. Available as project work or ongoing retainer support.

Get Seen (AEO, GEO, and SEO). Search and AI visibility services, including llms.txt files, schema markup, robots directives for AI crawlers, content and FAQ restructuring, and related optimization intended to improve how search engines and AI systems surface your business. See Section 19 for important limits on what we can guarantee.

Get Built (Websites and Funnels). Custom websites, sales funnels, landing pages, and email and SMS sequences. See Sections 20 and 21.

The Operations Audit ($597 flat fee). A review of your business conducted from the perspective of a prospect and a client, requiring access to your CRM, lead capture, and website backend. Includes a written report with prioritized recommendations and a walkthrough call.

The Full Visibility Dashboard ($297 flat fee). A complete AEO, GEO, and SEO assessment of all pages on your site, delivered as a scored dashboard with page-level findings and a ranked list of recommendations with supporting documentation.

The AI Power Hour ($197 flat fee). A 60-minute working session identifying how AI tools apply to your specific business. Fee may be applied as credit toward a larger engagement within 30 days.

Retainer Services. Ongoing fractional operations, automation, systems, and visibility support, billed monthly in advance under a separate Services Agreement.

Digital Products. Templates, SOPs, guides, courses, and other downloadable materials sold through the Site or Portal.

Free Assessment Tools. The 5-Minute Operations Audit and the AI Visibility Scan. See Section 18.

Portal Access. A self-serve customer portal through which clients sign agreements, pay invoices, complete onboarding, access forms and tools, manage communication preferences, and track project progress.

Specific scope, deliverables, fees, and timelines for retainer and project engagements are governed by a separate Services Agreement executed between you and the Company. In the event of any conflict between these Terms and an executed Services Agreement, the Services Agreement governs as to the specific engagement.

5. The Customer Portal

The Portal is the primary environment through which you engage with the Company. Through the Portal you may:

• Review and electronically sign service agreements via our e-signature provider, Documenso.
• Submit and update payment methods through our payment processor, Stripe.
• Complete onboarding questionnaires and intake forms.
• Access digital deliverables, forms, tools, and project resources.
• View invoices, receipts, and payment history.
• Select and update your communication preferences.

Account Security. You are responsible for keeping your Portal login credentials confidential and for all activity that occurs under your account. Notify us immediately at erin@thecoastalcollab.com if you suspect unauthorized access. We are not liable for losses resulting from unauthorized use of your account when you have failed to safeguard your credentials.

Account Suspension. We may suspend or terminate your Portal access for non-payment, violation of these Terms, or conduct we determine, in our reasonable discretion, to be abusive or unsafe.

6. Acceptable Use of the Site, Portal, and Services

You agree not to:

• Use the Services for any unlawful, fraudulent, or harmful purpose.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the Site, Portal, our infrastructure, or any other user's account.
• Reverse engineer, decompile, scrape, data mine, or otherwise attempt to extract source code or proprietary data from the Site, Portal, or any deliverable.
• Upload, transmit, or distribute viruses, malware, spam, or any harmful code.
• Use the Services to harass, defame, or harm any person or to violate the rights of any third party.
• Resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit access to the Portal, deliverables, or digital products.
• Misrepresent your identity, your authority to bind an organization, or the source of any communication.
• Use our free assessment tools to analyze a website or business you are not authorized to analyze.

Violation of this Section is grounds for immediate suspension or termination without refund, and may give rise to civil or criminal liability.

7. Electronic Signatures and Contracts

By using the Portal to sign service agreements through Documenso or similar e-signature tools, you agree that:

• Electronic signatures have the same legal effect as handwritten signatures under the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act ("E-SIGN Act"), the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act ("UETA"), and other applicable law.
• You consent to receive contracts, disclosures, notices, and related records electronically.
• You are responsible for downloading and retaining a copy of any agreement you sign. We may make copies available through the Portal but are not obligated to maintain perpetual access.
• The minimum system requirements for electronic delivery are a modern web browser, an internet connection, and a working email address. If you cannot meet these requirements, contact us before signing.

You may withdraw consent to electronic delivery at any time by contacting us, though doing so may limit your ability to engage Services through the Portal.

8. Purchases and Payment

Payment Processing. All payments are processed through Stripe, Inc. ("Stripe"). By submitting payment, you agree to Stripe's terms of service and authorize the charge to your selected payment method. We do not store full payment card numbers on our systems.

Pricing. All prices are listed in US dollars and are exclusive of any applicable taxes, duties, or third-party fees unless otherwise stated. You are responsible for any sales tax, VAT, GST, or similar tax assessed on your purchase. We reserve the right to change pricing at any time, but changes will not affect orders already placed.

Third-Party Costs Are Separate. Fees for our Services do not include third-party costs required to deliver or operate what we build, including software subscriptions, platform fees, hosting, domain registration, message and carrier fees, API usage, AI provider usage, stock assets, fonts, and plugin licenses. These are your responsibility and are billed to you directly by the provider unless we agree otherwise in writing.

Recurring Charges and Auto-Renewal. Retainer Services and other subscription offerings are billed on a recurring monthly basis unless otherwise agreed. By enrolling, you authorize us to charge your payment method automatically each billing cycle until you cancel in accordance with your Services Agreement. You may update or cancel your payment method through the Portal or by contacting us.

Failed Payments and Late Fees. If a payment fails, is reversed, or is more than five (5) business days past due, we reserve the right to pause Services and Portal access, charge a late fee of $25, and pursue collection of all amounts owed plus reasonable attorneys' fees.

Disputed Charges. If you believe a charge is incorrect, you must contact us in writing within 30 days of the charge date. Failure to do so waives your right to dispute the charge.

9. Agentic Commerce and Authorized Agents

You may use an authorized third-party agent, including AI-powered shopping or purchasing agents (an "Authorized Agent"), to initiate a purchase on your behalf through Stripe's agentic commerce protocol or comparable technology.

When you authorize an Authorized Agent to act on your behalf, you agree that:

• You are the responsible party for the purchase and remain bound by these Terms.
• You have granted the Authorized Agent the authority to provide your payment information, accept these Terms, and complete the transaction.
• We may rely on the Authorized Agent's representations as if made directly by you.
• You are responsible for reviewing any order summary or confirmation provided to you and for notifying us promptly of any unauthorized transactions.

We are not responsible for errors, miscommunications, or unauthorized actions taken by an Authorized Agent you have granted access to your payment credentials or accounts.

10. Communications and Communication Preferences

During onboarding, you will be asked to select your preferred communication channels. Available channels include:

• Email (sent to the address on file)
• Slack Connect (a shared channel between your Slack workspace and ours)
• SMS Text Messaging (sent through our SMS provider, Twilio, to a US mobile number you provide)
• Voice and video calls (scheduled through Calendly, conducted by phone, Zoom, or similar)

You may update your communication preferences at any time inside the Portal or by contacting erin@thecoastalcollab.com.

Regardless of marketing or update preferences, we may still send you transactional communications related to your account, payments, contracts, scheduled meetings, security, or active engagements through one or more of these channels. Transactional messages are not subject to opt-out under the CAN-SPAM Act or comparable law.

11. Email Communications and CAN-SPAM Compliance

We comply with the federal CAN-SPAM Act. Every marketing email we send includes our physical mailing address and a working unsubscribe link. We honor opt-out requests within ten (10) business days. You can also opt out of marketing emails by updating your preferences inside the Portal or by replying to any marketing email with "unsubscribe."

You agree that providing an email address constitutes consent to receive transactional emails related to your account, purchases, and active engagements, and that such transactional emails are not subject to opt-out.

12. SMS Text Messaging Terms

By providing a mobile phone number and opting in to SMS messaging through the Portal or another consent form, you expressly consent to receive text messages from The Coastal Collaborative, LLC sent through our SMS provider, Twilio, Inc.

Types of messages. Messages may include project updates, appointment reminders, contract status notifications, payment reminders, onboarding prompts, and (only if you opt in separately) marketing or promotional content.

Message frequency. Message frequency varies based on your account activity and selected preferences. You typically should not expect more than a few messages per week.

Message and data rates may apply. Standard message and data rates from your wireless carrier may apply to each message sent or received. We are not responsible for any such charges.

Opt-out. You can opt out at any time by replying STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, or QUIT to any message we send. You will receive a one-time confirmation message, after which no further messages will be sent. You can also update your communication preferences inside the Portal.

Help. Reply HELP for assistance, or contact us at erin@thecoastalcollab.com.

Carriers. SMS service is available on most major US carriers. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Privacy. Mobile phone numbers and SMS consent data are never shared with third parties or affiliates for their marketing purposes. SMS opt-in is collected and used solely to deliver the messages you have agreed to receive. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Eligibility. SMS messaging is available to US mobile numbers only. By opting in you confirm you are the account holder (or have authority to consent) for the mobile number provided and are at least 18 years old.

This Section governs messages we send to you. For messages your business sends to your customers using systems we build, see Section 21.

13. Telephone Communications and TCPA Consent

By providing your telephone number through the Site, Portal, scheduling tools, or any other means, you expressly consent to receive calls and text messages from us (or from third parties acting on our behalf) at that number using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice, for purposes related to your account, your inquiries, and (only if you have opted in separately) marketing.

You acknowledge that consent to receive marketing calls or texts is not a condition of purchasing any Service. You may revoke consent at any time using the opt-out methods described in Section 12 (for SMS) or by replying to any voicemail or call with a clear revocation request.

14. Recording and Call Consent

Calls, meetings, and video conferences with us (including those conducted via Zoom or other platforms) may be recorded and transcribed for note-taking, accuracy, accountability, training, and AI-assisted summarization purposes, using tools such as Granola or comparable services.

By scheduling, joining, or participating in a call or meeting with us, you consent to being recorded and transcribed. If you do not consent, you must notify us in writing before the meeting begins so we can disable recording. If you reside or join the call from a "two-party consent" jurisdiction (including California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, or Washington), this disclosure satisfies the disclosure requirement for that jurisdiction.

Recordings, transcripts, and any derived notes are confidential client records and are stored and used in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

15. Refund Policy

All sales are final. Due to the time-bound, service-based, and digital nature of our offerings, all payments are non-refundable, including but not limited to:

• The Operations Audit
• Monthly retainer fees, in whole or in part, including for unused hours
• Monthly AEO, GEO, and SEO service fees, regardless of ranking or visibility outcomes
• Digital product downloads once access has been granted
• Initial deposits and milestone payments for project-based work, including website and funnel builds
• Strategy sessions, audits, or any consultation, once scheduled or delivered

If you believe a charge was made in error, contact us at erin@thecoastalcollab.com within seven (7) days of the charge and we will review the request in good faith. Approval of any refund is at our sole discretion.

Initiating a chargeback or payment dispute with your bank or card issuer without first contacting us and allowing thirty (30) days for resolution is a material breach of these Terms and may result in termination of your account and pursuit of all amounts owed, plus reasonable collection costs and attorneys' fees.

16. Client Responsibilities

To get value from the Services, you agree to:

• Provide accurate, complete, and lawful information about your business, systems, goals, and any data you share with us.
• Keep your Portal login credentials, payment information, and contact details current.
• Respond to requests for information, access, or feedback in a reasonable timeframe.
• Grant any necessary tool access, credentials, or permissions required to complete the Services, and warrant that you have the legal right to grant such access.
• Maintain and pay for the third-party services required to operate what we build for you.
• Comply with all applicable laws, including export controls, anti-bribery, anti-money-laundering, data protection, marketing, telemarketing, and tax laws.
• Use the Services, Portal, and any deliverables for lawful purposes only.

Delays caused by missing information, delayed responses, or inaccessible tools are your responsibility and do not entitle you to a refund or credit.

17. Access to Your Systems, Credentials, and Your Customers' Data

17.1 System Access

Delivering the Services generally requires access to platforms you control. You will grant us that access, and you represent and warrant that you have the legal authority to do so.

We request the minimum level of access required to do the work. Where a platform supports scoped or role-based access, or named individual accounts, we use those rather than requesting shared administrative credentials. Credentials you provide are stored in an encrypted password manager and used only to perform the work you engaged us to do.

17.2 Revocation and Offboarding

When an engagement ends, or at any time on your written request, we will remove our access to your systems and delete stored credentials, and will confirm in writing on request. You are responsible for independently revoking our access from your side. This is the only step fully within your control and we recommend it as standard practice with any departing vendor.

17.3 Your Customers' Personal Information

When we work inside your systems, we will often encounter and process personal information belonging to your customers, leads, employees, and contacts.

With respect to that data, we act as a service provider and processor. You remain the controller. We process it only on your documented instructions, only to deliver the Services, and we do not sell it, retain it for our own purposes, use it to market our own services, combine it with data from other clients, or use it to train AI models for our own benefit.

You are responsible for your own compliance. You represent and warrant that any personal information you make available to us, whether by sharing it directly or by granting us access to a system containing it, was collected lawfully, is held with a valid legal basis, and may lawfully be processed by us for the purposes of the engagement. You are responsible for maintaining a privacy policy that accurately describes your data practices and for obtaining any consents your own customers are owed.

Data Processing Agreement. If you are subject to GDPR, UK GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, or another regime requiring a written processor or service-provider agreement, we will execute a Data Processing Agreement with you on request. Where executed, the DPA governs as to the processing of personal information and supersedes any conflicting term in these Terms.

17.4 Our Team and Subcontractors

We work with team members and independent contractors who may have access to your information and systems. Every person with access is bound by written confidentiality obligations no less protective than those in Section 27, and we remain responsible to you for their conduct.

18. Free Assessment Tools

We provide free assessment tools, including the 5-Minute Operations Audit and the AI Visibility Scan.

Provided as-is. The tools and their outputs are provided for informational purposes only, without warranty of any kind. Results are generated automatically and may be incomplete, inaccurate, or out of date. They are not professional advice and are not a substitute for a paid engagement. Do not make consequential business decisions based solely on a free assessment.

Authorization to scan. By submitting a website address to the AI Visibility Scan, you represent and warrant that you own that website or are otherwise authorized to request an analysis of it. We analyze publicly available content only and do not attempt to access private, gated, or authenticated areas of any site. You may not use the tool to analyze a competitor's website or any site you are not authorized to analyze.

Third-party queries. The AI Visibility Scan may submit queries about your business, brand, or industry to third-party search engines and AI systems in order to measure how those systems surface your business. Those third parties operate under their own terms and privacy policies.

Follow-up. Submitting a free assessment creates a record in our systems and we may contact you about your results. You may opt out at any time. See our Privacy Policy.

No engagement created. Use of a free tool does not create a client relationship, a professional duty, or any obligation on our part to provide further services.

19. Search, AI Visibility, and Ranking Disclaimer

Our AEO, GEO, and SEO services are intended to improve how search engines and AI systems discover, understand, and surface your business. They are not a guarantee of any particular outcome.

You expressly acknowledge and agree that:

We do not control search engines or AI systems. Google, Bing, OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Meta, and every other search or AI provider independently determine what they index, how they rank, what they cite, and what they recommend. Those determinations are made by proprietary systems we do not operate, cannot inspect, and cannot influence directly.

We do not guarantee rankings, citations, recommendations, traffic, leads, or revenue. We do not guarantee that any AI system will recommend your business, that your site will be cited as a source, that you will appear in any AI-generated answer, that your search rankings will improve, or that any improvement will be maintained. Any example, case study, projection, or past result we share is illustrative and is not a promise of your outcome.

Algorithms change without notice. Search and AI providers change their systems constantly and without warning. A change may reduce or eliminate visibility gains previously achieved, through no fault of ours. Work that was effective when performed may become less effective or ineffective. This is a normal characteristic of the medium and is not a defect in our Services.

AI systems can be wrong about you. AI systems may generate inaccurate, outdated, or unflattering statements about your business regardless of any work we perform. We have no ability to control, correct, or remove AI-generated output about you.

Results depend on factors outside our control, including your industry, competition, domain history, budget, content, the quality and truthfulness of information you provide, your responsiveness, changes you or other vendors make to your site, and the technical constraints of your platform.

What we do commit to. We commit to performing the agreed scope of work competently, using current best practices as we reasonably understand them, and to reporting honestly on what we did and what we observed. That is the entirety of what we guarantee.

Fees are for work performed, not for results achieved. Monthly AEO, GEO, and SEO fees are earned when the work is performed and are non-refundable regardless of visibility outcomes. See Section 15.

20. Website and Funnel Development

This Section applies to website, funnel, landing page, and related build work.

Scope and revisions. Scope, deliverables, revision rounds, and timeline are defined in your Services Agreement or written proposal. Work outside that scope, including additional pages, features, integrations, or revision rounds beyond those specified, is a change order and is billed separately at our then-current rates. We will not begin out-of-scope work without your written approval.

Content you provide. You are responsible for supplying copy, images, logos, video, testimonials, and other content unless content creation is expressly included in scope. You represent and warrant that you own or have licensed all rights necessary to use every asset you provide, and that its use does not infringe any copyright, trademark, right of publicity, or other right. You will indemnify us for any claim arising from content you supply. See Section 31.

Third-party assets and licenses. Builds may incorporate third-party fonts, stock media, plugins, themes, libraries, or APIs. Licenses for these are your responsibility and your cost, and their use is governed by the third party's terms. We will identify any such assets on request.

Hosting, domains, and accounts. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, hosting, domain registration, and third-party platform accounts are registered in your name, owned by you, paid for by you, and remain yours. We do not hold your domain or hosting hostage under any circumstance, including a payment dispute.

Acceptance and launch. You will have the review period stated in your Services Agreement (and if none is stated, seven (7) business days) to identify defects in the delivered build. Absent written notice of a defect within that period, the build is deemed accepted. After acceptance, the site is yours, and we are not responsible for its ongoing operation, maintenance, security, updates, uptime, or content unless you have purchased a maintenance retainer.

Compatibility. We build for current versions of major browsers and standard device sizes. We do not guarantee identical rendering on legacy browsers, unusual devices, or platforms that did not exist at the time of the build.

Accessibility. Section 40 describes our commitment to accessibility on our own Site and Portal. Accessibility conformance for a client website (for example, WCAG 2.1 AA) is a distinct scope of work with its own cost and testing requirements. Unless accessibility conformance is expressly included in your Services Agreement, we make no representation that a website we build for you conforms to WCAG or satisfies the ADA or any comparable law, and you are solely responsible for the accessibility of your website.

21. Messaging Campaigns Sent From Your Business

We may build, configure, or automate email and SMS sequences, dialers, forms, and other outbound communication systems that operate inside your platforms and send messages from your business to your contacts.

You are the sender. You are the responsible party. With respect to every message sent from your systems to your contacts, you are the sender under the CAN-SPAM Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), state telemarketing and mini-TCPA statutes, CASL, and every comparable law. We are not the sender, and we are not your co-sender.

You are solely responsible for:

• Obtaining and documenting valid, provable consent from every recipient before any message is sent, in the form required by applicable law.
• Registering and maintaining your own A2P 10DLC, short code, sender, or comparable registrations.
• Honoring all opt-out and unsubscribe requests promptly and permanently.
• Scrubbing against applicable do-not-call and suppression lists.
• The content, timing, frequency, and truthfulness of every message.
• Complying with all applicable marketing, telemarketing, privacy, and consumer protection laws.

We do not supply consent, and we do not verify it. We build the mechanism. We do not audit, validate, or warrant that your contact list is lawfully collected, that consent exists, or that a given campaign is compliant. If you ask us to configure a system to message a list, we are entitled to rely on your representation that you have the right to message that list.

We may refuse. We may decline to build or operate any campaign we reasonably believe to be unlawful, deceptive, or abusive, and doing so is not a breach of any agreement between us.

Indemnification. You will indemnify, defend, and hold us harmless from any claim, demand, regulatory action, or penalty arising from messages sent from your systems, including any TCPA, CAN-SPAM, state telemarketing, or privacy claim. TCPA statutory damages can be substantial, and this allocation of responsibility is a material term of these Terms. See Section 31.

22. Automated and AI Systems We Build For You

We build automated workflows and AI-assisted systems that operate inside your business and continue running after our engagement ends.

Before deployment, we will identify for you what data the system reads and writes, which third-party and AI providers it transmits data to, and which actions it takes automatically versus which require human approval.

On acceptance, you own the system and you are responsible for it. This includes monitoring its behavior, reviewing its output, maintaining the third-party accounts it depends on, and ensuring its continued lawful operation. Automated systems can fail, send in error, act on bad data, or behave unexpectedly when an upstream platform changes.

We are not liable for the ongoing operation of an automated or AI system after acceptance, including for messages it sends, actions it takes, decisions it informs, data it transmits, or costs it incurs, except to the extent a defect was present at delivery and reported to us during the review period.

You must maintain human oversight of any automated system that sends external communications, makes or informs consequential decisions, transmits personal information, or incurs cost. If you require a system with no autonomous action, tell us in writing before the build begins and we will design accordingly.

23. AI-Generated and AI-Assisted Work Product

We use artificial intelligence and machine learning tools (including large language models, transcription services, and AI-assisted automation builders) in the course of delivering the Services. By engaging us you acknowledge and agree that:

• Some deliverables may be drafted, summarized, or generated with the assistance of AI tools.
• AI-generated output may contain errors, hallucinations, or omissions. You are responsible for reviewing all deliverables before relying on them for business, legal, financial, medical, or other consequential decisions.
• You should not share with us any information you would not be comfortable having processed by third-party AI providers. The providers we currently use are identified in our Privacy Policy and a current list is available on request. If you require a fully air-gapped or AI-free workflow, you must notify us in writing before the engagement begins.
• We do not guarantee that any specific deliverable is or is not AI-generated unless we expressly state so in writing.
• Copyright and ownership of AI-assisted deliverables is governed by Section 24, subject to any limitations imposed by applicable law on the copyrightability of AI-generated content. You acknowledge that material generated substantially by AI may not be eligible for copyright protection in the United States, and we make no warranty that any deliverable is protectable.

24. Intellectual Property

Our IP. All content on the Site, the Portal, and within our deliverables, including text, graphics, logos, brand elements, frameworks, methodologies, templates, workflows, prompts, automations, and software, is owned by or licensed to The Coastal Collaborative, LLC and is protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, and other intellectual property laws. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, modify, or create derivative works without our prior written permission.

Your Deliverables. Upon full payment, final work product created specifically for you (custom documents, SOPs, automations, websites, etc.) becomes your property. We retain ownership of any pre-existing frameworks, templates, methodologies, prompts, tools, code libraries, or know-how used or adapted in delivering the Services, and you receive a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to use that pre-existing material as embedded in your deliverables.

Digital Products. Purchase of a digital product grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to use the product for your own business. You may not resell, redistribute, share, or use the product to compete with us or to train any AI system.

Your Content. You retain ownership of all content, data, and materials you provide to us. You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use such content as needed to deliver the Services.

25. Portfolio and Promotional Rights

Unless you opt out in writing at the start of the engagement, you grant us the right to: (a) identify you as a client by name and logo on our website, decks, proposals, and marketing materials; (b) describe the general nature of the work performed; and (c) use anonymized, aggregated outcomes or before-and-after data in case studies. We will not disclose your confidential information, financial details, or trade secrets without your written consent.

26. Independent Contractor Status

The Company is an independent contractor. Nothing in these Terms creates an employer-employee, partnership, joint venture, franchise, or agency relationship between you and us. Neither party has authority to bind the other or to incur obligations on the other's behalf. We are solely responsible for our own taxes, insurance, and benefits.

27. Confidentiality

We treat all non-public client information, business strategies, financial data, customer data, credentials, and other proprietary information ("Confidential Information") as confidential and will not disclose it to third parties except (a) to subcontractors and service providers bound by confidentiality obligations no less protective than these; (b) as required by law, subpoena, or court order; or (c) with your written consent.

Confidential Information does not include information that: is or becomes publicly available through no fault of ours; was already in our possession before disclosure; is independently developed by us without reference to your Confidential Information; or is rightfully received from a third party without confidentiality obligations.

Our confidentiality obligations survive termination of these Terms for a period of three (3) years, except that obligations regarding trade secrets and credentials survive for as long as the information remains a trade secret or the credential remains valid under applicable law.

28. Disclaimers

THE SITE, PORTAL, SERVICES, FREE ASSESSMENT TOOLS, AND DIGITAL PRODUCTS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, OR ANY WARRANTY ARISING OUT OF COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE.

We do not guarantee specific business outcomes, revenue results, time savings, search rankings, AI visibility or citation, message deliverability, AI accuracy, third-party tool availability, or any other measurable result from the use of our Services, Portal, free tools, deliverables, or digital products. Results depend on factors outside our control, including your implementation, market conditions, search and AI provider behavior, carrier behavior, third-party platform changes, and the accuracy of information you provide. See Sections 19, 21, and 22.

Nothing we provide constitutes legal, tax, accounting, financial, medical, or other professional advice. You should consult qualified professionals for those matters. In particular, nothing we provide is legal advice regarding your privacy, marketing, telemarketing, or accessibility compliance obligations, all of which remain yours.

29. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE COASTAL COLLABORATIVE, LLC, ITS OWNERS, EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS, AND AGENTS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST DATA, LOST OPPORTUNITY, LOST SEARCH RANKINGS OR VISIBILITY, UNDELIVERED MESSAGES, REGULATORY PENALTIES, REPUTATIONAL HARM, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SITE, THE PORTAL, THE SERVICES, THE FREE ASSESSMENT TOOLS, OR ANY DIGITAL PRODUCTS, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

OUR TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING UNDER OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO THE COMPANY IN THE THREE (3) MONTHS PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100).

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. In those jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

30. Third-Party Platforms and Outages

The Services depend on third-party platforms that we do not control, including those listed in Section 42. Those platforms may change their features, pricing, APIs, terms, or availability at any time, or may terminate your account.

We are not liable for any third-party platform's outage, deprecation, price increase, policy change, data loss, or account termination, or for the cost of rebuilding or migrating work that a third-party change renders inoperable. Rebuild or migration work necessitated by a third-party change is a new scope of work and is billed separately.

31. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless The Coastal Collaborative, LLC and its owners, employees, contractors, and agents from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, judgments, settlements, regulatory penalties, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from or related to:

(a) your use of the Site, Portal, free assessment tools, or Services; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any law or any rights of a third party, including intellectual property, privacy, telemarketing, and accessibility rights; (d) any content, data, assets, or credentials you provide to us, including any claim that content you supplied infringes a third party's rights; (e) any message sent from your systems, including any claim under the TCPA, CAN-SPAM, or any state telemarketing or privacy law (see Section 21); (f) the operation of any automated or AI system after acceptance (see Section 22); (g) the personal information of your customers, including any claim that you lacked a lawful basis to collect it or to make it available to us; (h) the accessibility of any website we build for you, unless accessibility conformance was expressly included in your Services Agreement; (i) your engagement of any Authorized Agent; or (j) any deliverable used by you in a manner inconsistent with our written guidance.

32. Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the Site, the Portal, or Services at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, including violation of these Terms or conduct we deem abusive, unethical, or otherwise incompatible with our work.

You may stop using the Services at any time. For retainer engagements, termination is governed by the separate Services Agreement. Upon termination, all unpaid amounts become immediately due.

On termination we will, on request, return or delete your Confidential Information and your customers' personal information, remove our access to your systems, and delete stored credentials, except where retention is required by law. You remain responsible for independently revoking our access. See Section 17.2.

33. Governing Law, Arbitration, and Class Action Waiver

Governing Law. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

Informal Resolution. Any dispute arising under or related to these Terms shall first be addressed through good-faith informal negotiation between the parties for at least thirty (30) days before any formal proceeding is initiated.

Binding Arbitration. If the dispute remains unresolved, it shall be submitted to binding arbitration administered in New Hanover County, North Carolina, under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association ("AAA"). The arbitrator's decision shall be final and enforceable in any court of competent jurisdiction. Each party shall bear its own costs and attorneys' fees unless otherwise awarded by the arbitrator.

Injunctive Relief. Notwithstanding the above, either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in the state or federal courts of New Hanover County, North Carolina, to protect intellectual property rights or confidential information.

Time Limit. Any claim must be filed within one (1) year after the cause of action arose, or it is permanently barred.

34. Survival

The following Sections survive termination of these Terms, along with any other section that by its nature should survive: 7 (Electronic Signatures), 8 (Purchases and Payment, as to amounts owed), 14 (Recording and Call Consent), 15 (Refund Policy), 17.3 (Your Customers' Personal Information), 18 (Free Assessment Tools), 19 (Search and AI Visibility Disclaimer), 20 (Website and Funnel Development, as to acceptance and accessibility), 21 (Messaging Campaigns), 22 (Automated and AI Systems), 23 (AI Work Product), 24 (Intellectual Property), 25 (Portfolio and Promotional Rights), 27 (Confidentiality), 28 (Disclaimers), 29 (Limitation of Liability), 30 (Third-Party Platforms), 31 (Indemnification), 33 (Governing Law, Arbitration, and Class Action Waiver), and 34 (Survival).

35. Force Majeure

We are not liable for any delay or failure to perform caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, war, terrorism, civil unrest, pandemic, government action, natural disaster, internet or telecommunications failure, third-party service outage, hardware failure, or labor disruption.

36. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights or obligations under them without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, sale of substantially all of our assets, or by operation of law. Any prohibited assignment is void.

37. No Waiver

Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms is not a waiver of that provision or of any other provision. No waiver is effective unless in writing and signed by us.

38. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, that provision shall be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

39. Notices

Legal notices to us must be sent in writing to The Coastal Collaborative, LLC, 322 S College Rd #1159, Wilmington, NC 28403, with a copy by email to erin@thecoastalcollab.com. Notices to you may be delivered by email to the address associated with your account, by Portal notification, or by US mail to the most recent address you have provided. Notices are deemed received when delivered (or, for email, when sent absent a bounce-back).

40. Accessibility of Our Site

We strive to make our own Site and Portal accessible to all users and to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA where reasonably practicable. If you encounter any accessibility barriers, please contact us at erin@thecoastalcollab.com and we will work to address the issue.

This Section describes our own Site only. Accessibility of a website we build for you is governed by Section 20.

41. DMCA / Copyright Infringement

If you believe content on the Site or Portal infringes your copyright, send a written notice to erin@thecoastalcollab.com including: (a) your physical or electronic signature; (b) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed; (c) identification of the allegedly infringing material with sufficient detail to locate it; (d) your contact information; (e) a statement of good-faith belief that the use is not authorized; and (f) a statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

42. Third-Party Services

The Site, Portal, and Services rely on third-party services including:

• Stripe (payment processing and agentic commerce)
• Twilio (SMS messaging delivery)
• Documenso (electronic signature and contract management)
• Slack and Slack Connect (client communication)
• Kit (formerly ConvertKit) (email marketing)
• Calendly (scheduling)
• Zoom and Granola (video conferencing, recording, and transcripts)
• Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, and Snitcher (analytics, advertising, and website visitor identification)
• Vercel (website hosting)
• Asana (project management)
• Toggl (time tracking)
• Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and other AI providers used in AI-assisted delivery
• Client-side platforms we work within, including HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Zapier, and Make

We are not responsible for the practices, policies, content, availability, or actions of these third parties. Your use of those services is governed by their respective terms. See Section 30.

43. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with any executed Services Agreement, any executed Data Processing Agreement, our Privacy Policy, and any other written agreement signed by both parties, constitute the entire agreement between you and The Coastal Collaborative, LLC regarding the subject matter and supersede all prior agreements, proposals, or understandings, whether written or oral. Headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

44. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Reach out:

The Coastal Collaborative, LLC
322 S College Rd #1159
Wilmington, NC 28403
erin@thecoastalcollab.com