As much as Eric Michael and his team of associates care about building and empowering your entrepreneurial pursuit, Eric Michael and his associates also care about your privacy online and we take our part in protecting customers, clients, and everyday users the best we can. This page will help to define policy and practices as it relates to your profile, data, assets and our systems, services, and strategic partners.

It’s true that Privacy Policies can be quite boring to read. However, by continuing to use or buy from this website, employ its systems or software, or to engage with Eric Michael for service of any kind means you agree to let us collect and use your information in the ways set out in this privacy policy (the “Policy”). This is why we request and require you read the whole thing. That said, we believe know our privacy practices to be quite great. So, welcome.

SERVICES THIS POLICY COVERS

This Privacy Policy is a Master Privacy Policy and covers all digital platforms, websites, systems, networks, and services for Eric Michael and his collection of endeavors—including the various social media accounts. This Policy does not outline or support the privacy policies or practices of companies that are not explicitly owned by Eric Michael or any of his associated endeavors.

That means, when when you leave a digital property owned by Eric Michael a site or platform of one of our partners—say Mailchimp or MightyNetworks—this Policy no longer applies and the other takes over. Once you’re over the fence, it’s recommended you read theirs immediately.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Personal Information (“PI”) is any information that may allow for an individual to be personally identified, on- or offline. This can include your name, email address, social security number, phone number, mailing or billing address, or credit card information. Other data points, such as interests and economic status, customer number or usernames, IP address, geolocation tags, education, and even job title could also be considered personal information if that information (when combined with other information) is used to reveal your identity.

PERSONAL INFORMATION ERIC MICHAEL COLLECTS

Eric Michael only collects personal information from you (virtually) when you say that it is fine for us to use it. There are several moments when you may voluntarily consent for us to collect, use, and store your personal information:

Registering for an account: In order to collaborate with Eric Michael or purchase any of his on-demand, recurring, or point-of-sale offerings a customer or client must create an online account through one of his associated websites. This account allows you to manage your account, make purchases, and access support content as needed. To register for an online account, clients are required to share their email addresses and created a password as well as provide name, phone number, mailing, and billing address information. Each and every password is encrypted, however, we will have access to the other personal info you provide in your customer profile.

Direct provision: Sometimes we may ask for specific information from you so that we can effectively provide service and support as needed. Or, sometimes, you may choose to give us information on your own accord, during various support sessions. Both of these are good examples of when and how personal information may be shared and stored. You consent for us to use the information you have provided when you reach out to us by email or social media accounts, post on our Facebook community groups, use the “contact us” or other forms on our website, make an e-commerce purchase of any kind, fill out any client intake forms, interact with our support or customer service teams, or comment on our social media accounts. If you are posting on any of our affiliated social media groups—including Facebook or MightyNetworks—you should always be aware that these platforms and all information stored are accessible to the public.

Interacting with online services: Personal Information is also permissibly collected (such as IP address, device and browser type, geolocation, network connection, and frequency of visits) every time you engage with any of our online systems, software, and services. Third-party services, such as Mailchimp and Google Analytics, are employed in the management of each of our sites to support data collection and reporting for the purpose of enriching our practice and offerings in the future. This information is pseudonymized and aggregated for our internal processing. This means we will never (or would never want to) be able to pinpoint that it was you who visited our website or services 62x in one day—just that someone, somewhere had. You (and every visitor) is made aware that we are collecting this information by the friendly-yet-annoying General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) pop-up that appears when you visit the site.​​

MMM. COOKIES:

It’s time we share our cookie recipe, but don’t worry: they’re totally kosher, all-natural with limited preservatives, and completely fat-free. These cookies are special cookies, small files that are transferred to your device through your browser to enrich your experience.

Cookie Favors Types: Session cookies, those that are erased after your browser leaves the site, and persistent cookies (those that stay on your device for a limited period of time or until you delete them) are both in use.

Why do we use cookies? Sure, all media networks like to know who is visiting and where they’re coming from and what they’re enjoying (this helps us prioritize specific content and retail offerings). However, the intention behind our cookie usage is only ever to maximize your user experience. In addition to helping us identify users, cookies also help to prioritize some content throughout the network: like previously viewed products and coursework, as well as advertising (“paid”) media and the like. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook and Google support our website as well, by broadcasting some of our content across their social media networks—helping us to reach and remind new and recurring visitors of the various offerings.

What if I don’t want Eric Michael’s cookies? Most browsers have the option to stop a device from receiving specific cookies from being activated. If you choose to do so, bear in mind that our website may not operate properly for you and/or some services may be rendered unavailable.

What if I just don’t want targeted ads? You’re in luck! Facebook (and Instagram), Google, and the Digital Advertising Alliance make it easy to update settings and “do what you can” to opt out of data sharing and into richer privacy protection. There are also more readings available about cookies at All About Cookies [dot] org.

ABOUT CREDIT CARD INFORMATION:

Accepting credit and debit card payments online makes for a more accessible, convenient, and streamlined approach to collaboration. However, we understand that (now more than ever) giving out credit card information online can leave a person feeling a little exposed. That said, we only ever use PCI-compliant third parties to support the capture and processing of credit card transactions and we never (ever) see your credit card information.

REASONS FOR COLLECTING PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Eric Michael is not your Big Brother. We never collect personal information explicitly for the purposes of sharing, selling, or trading it. We only use your information for the following reasons:

• • → To personalize your browsing experience
  • → To compose, fulfill, or enforce contractual obligations (clients, students, coaches)
  • → To assist in user identification and account management
  • → To monitor, improve, and test-drive new services and features
  • → To prevent any/all misuse of our services
  • → To better understand our audience of prospects and customers
  • → To better understand how our audience is using the network
  • → To allow you to contact us for personal follow-up
  • → To allow you to pay for our services, packages, and other offerings
  • → To allow you to participate in social sharing
  • → To respond to personal inquiries
  • → To fulfill orders and requests
  • → To comply with law enforcement and other regulatory agencies
  • → To communicate with you about new services and features

WHEN WE HAVE TO SHARE INFORMATION:

Sometimes we have to share personal information across various networks of people and technological platforms. Here is what that looks like and how it feels:

Agents and Representatives: We’re a proud, close-knit team of creatives that work together to drive creativity, innovation, and progress. However, sometimes, we need to back up and use other trusted providers (corporate and individual) to support our initiatives (“partners”). Whenever one of these partners is working for us, they are acting as our agents. Sometimes our agents need to access personal information to accomplish a particular task but nothing more.

Third-Party Software and Applications: Third-party software and other applications—like Gmail, MailChimp, Google Search Console & Analytics suite, Dropbox, Stripe, Jotform, Leadfeeder, MightyNetworks, and their integrated partners—help to make our user experience richer and jobs a whole lot easier. Some personal information may be shared, stored, and used in partnership with these applications.

New Ownership: In the very unlikely event (although it has to be said) that Eric Michael is involved in an acquisition, merger, reorganization, sale of major assets, or—god forbid—bankruptcy your information may be sold/transferred as a part of the transaction. We will give ample notice before there is a substantial change in ownership or any transfer of information occurs.

Law Enforcement: Personal information may be disclosed to law enforcement but only when we believe, in good faith, that the sharing of information is necessary to protect our business and community of customers and clients.

THE EMAIL POLICY:

Opt-in Emails: Eric Michael enjoys keeping customers, clients, and community members updated on the exciting things he’s working on. He does this through his blog, articles, social media channels, and opt-in emails. If you are receiving these types of emails, it means that you have consented to receive these emails either by clicking the opt-in box or by default in the new account creation process (remember how personal information is synchronized throughout the network). You’re free to unsubscribe, of course, simply by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any of the emails.

Mandatory Emails: Sometimes you won’t have the option to not hear from us. This only happens if an email contains important information for you such as new order or account status information, tech support replies, appointment confirmations, and the like.

PERSONAL INFORMATION RETENTION & YOUR RIGHTS

It’s important (if not critical) to let go every once in a while, purge and free yourself from the obsolete and outdated. That’s why we don’t hold onto your personal information too tightly. We conduct regular system rests and scrubbing (of inactive accounts and expired data). Don’t worry, we’ll always give you a heads up if information/accounts are expiring and you may always ask us:

• • → To share any/all personal information we may have on you
  • → To correct any personal information that may have been collected
  • → To remove your personal information from our servers and systems
  • → To transfer your personal information to another service, if available
  • → To stop using your personal information at any time

Requests may be made to us directly and we will always do our best to comply, within reason.

WHERE YOUR INFORMATION IS PROCESSED & STORED

Eric Michael is an American entrepreneur and is based in the United States, however, with his strong sense of adventure, might be caught working abroad. Respectfully, data is stored and processed in the United States but (at times) some of that information may be stored and processed overseas for accessibility purposes. We use third-party cloud storage systems to ensure internal accessibility and better security, decentralizing from a singular server. These third parties (like Dropbox and Google Drive) may store, process, or transfer data abroad.

THIRD-PARTY LIABILITY FOR SOFTWARE & APPS

We always do our homework and use the best research, practices, and efforts in employing the support of third-party applications, systems, and software. Security is our foremost priority (always), however, we are not liable for any breach of privacy or data security that occurs due to the fault of these third parties. You may consult earlier portions of this agreement for links to the specific third-party systems we rely on and their individual privacy practices.

KEEPING YOUR INFORMATION SAFE

Eric Michael has electronic, managerial, physical, and systemic procedures in place to help keep personal information safe and secure. Unfortunately in today’s world, no online system can guarantee the complete security of your personal information. Malware, viruses, and annoying system failures lurk around every corner—if personal information is compromised. You can support Eric Michael’s efforts in protecting your personal information by employing various identity and security cloaking software, limiting computer use, and using richer harder-to-guess passwords. In the unlikely event that your personal information is compromised to a security breach, on our end, we will be sure to notify you as soon as reasonably possible.

CHILDREN’S ONLINE PRIVACY AND PROTECTION:

None of Eric Michael’s content, coursework, or services are made or intended for audiences under the age of thirteen (13). As much as we admire the entrepreneurial tenacity of all the 0-12 year-olds out there, seeking a career in creative collaboration, we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under this age limit and delete this information as soon as we become aware of it. Users between the age of thirteen (13) and sixteen (16) must have parental permission before accessing or using our online services. Please note, if you live outside of the United States, even if you are older than thirteen (13), you may not be legally allowed to access our online services. Purchases must be made by someone eighteen (18) years of age or older.

POLICY CHANGES:

Change occurs every now and then and we must ride the ebbs and flows. That said, we may modify this Policy as our practices and procedures (and laws) develop and require us to do so. Take note of the date at the top of this page, it lets you know when this Policy was last revised. If we believe that a change we are making with have a deeper impact on the way we use your information (or the way you entrust or use our services) we will send you an email to alert you of such changes. All other minor changes to this Policy will be automatic and effective immediately, it is your responsibility as the user of the site to remain aware of the site and network’s practices.

By continuing to use our website and services, you allow us to use your information in the ways we have outlined and described in this policy.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

All disputes concerning our privacy policy and practices are to be resolved in a “no blinking” competition – the last one to blink wins! If that does not suffice or is found to be unagreeable to both parties, by using our services, you agree to use independent mediation or arbitration services to attempt to settle the dispute before taking the matter to a formal court. All mediation and arbitration costs will be shared between us, except for attorney fees, which will be paid by the respective parties, individually.

CONTACTING ERIC MICHAEL

Wow. You did it! You made it to the end. In all seriousness, if there is ever anything that warrants clarification or if you have any questions or just wish to say hello drop us an email.