It can often be very confusing to find out exactly what you need to do to stay within the letter of the law.
Here is a 5 step Zumba Instructor legal plan, bringing all the legal requirements and resources into one place for you.
Make sure to bookmark this page and refer back to it as you progress through the topics.
Step 1 -Decide on your business structure & review gym contract (if applicable)
a) Read these two ZIN Legal resources articles (requires ZIN login)
b) If you will be registering a company, review the types of business structure in the country you will be working in:
Step 2 – Obtain a Zumba waiver form
a) Read this ZIN legal resource article (requires ZIN Login)
b) Review the Sample Zumba Waiver Form
Note: This as a sample of what a Waiver Form looks like and the type of information you want included,I am NOT qualified to offer you any legal advice. So use this as a sample only and consult with a local qualified lawyer who can help you draft a waiver which is enforceable in the location you will be teaching.
Here are some key points addressed in the sample, other than the standard waiving of liability, which you can think about including in your waiver form:
- Contact details
- Emergency contact details
- Question of how they found your class (great for understanding the performance of your marketing tactics)
- Waiving liability for any additional instructors appointed by you (if you need help in class or cover)
- Permission to use class photographs for promotional purposes (if you do take photos check with people again before, to make sure all are happy, this can be a touchy subject sometimes)
- Section to collect Parent / Guardian signature for any participants under 18
c) Agree a waiver drafting service from a local lawyer
If you made friends with others from your local area during your initial Instructor training see if you can get one waiver drawn up between you and split the costs, this can greatly reduce the outlay for each of you.
Step 3 – Buy Zumba Insurance
a) Read this ZIN legal resource article
b) Find the best online personal quote for your Zumba insurance liability policy
I’ve been researching Zumba Liability Insurance in different countries and stepping through the process of requesting insurance to see what’s involved, here are some local insurance quotation sites to allow you to compare different quotes to get you the best your Zumba Insurance.
US – Go to netquote.com enter you Zip code to get started then when prompted use sic code 7991, Physical Fitness Facilities
UK – Go to constructaquote.com* choose Liability Insurance and then Public Liability Insurance from the top menu. For the trade type enter
“Fitness and/or Aerobic Instructors and the like (Excludng Martial Arts)”
Canada – Go to kanetix.ca enter your post code to get started then type and choose “Aerobic or dance instructor” as primary operation of business
Step 4 – Obtain any required licenses
The ZIN network has a great article about this under Music Resources (requires ZIN login) this article also links to the appropriate licensing organisation in several countries but here they are again for convenience:
- US: ASCAP / BMI / SESAC
- UK: PRS / PPL
- Canada: SOCAN
- Australia: APRA / PPCA
- World-wide License Lookup: CISAC
Depending on your country / state you may also need a reseller license if you plan on reselling any ZumbaWear or other merchandise. Take as look at Sales Tax by US State for details of your State’s department of revenue
Step 5 – Prepare your documentation for class record keeping
a) Read the ZIN resource article Incident reports & maintaining records
b) If you are not teaching in a gym, prepare your own attendance sheets and incident reports, we have prepared some for you here:
To make it easy for you I put together these free Zumba Instructor class templates
It is vital to get your legal requirements in place, but remember you are starting this business because you enjoy it…..have fun!!
