Legal · the fine print, in plain English

Terms of service

Last updated October 25, 2026.

The fine print, in plain English.

The Traveling Designer is a trade name of Design Inc LLC ("we", "I"). Questions: send a message.

Text in CAPITALS is in capitals on purpose, so it can't be missed.

1. Free calls and free tools

The free strategy call, the busywork calculator and the website health check are free, with no obligation. Results and estimates are a starting point, not a guarantee: real savings depend on your business.

2. How we work together

Every paid project follows the same steps: a free 30-minute call, a short onboarding questionnaire, then a written proposal with a fixed scope and quote. Paid work starts only after you sign our Client Services Agreement and pay a 50% deposit.

The signed agreement and its Project / Plan Schedule are the full deal for that work. If they differ from this page, the signed agreement wins.

Work outside the agreed scope is quoted separately and done only after you approve it in writing (email is fine).

You own what's built for you once it's paid for, except third-party tools and services, which stay under their own licences and terms, and my own general-purpose code and know-how, which you get a permanent licence to use with what was built for you.

3. Monthly plans (Economy, Business and First class)

• Economy is the website care monitor ($49 a month). Business is the Care plan ($400 a month). First class is AI Copilot ($2,000 a month).
• Plans are billed monthly in advance by card through Stripe, and renew until cancelled.
• Cancel any time by replying to any of our emails or through the contact form. Cancellation stops the next renewal; the current month runs to its end.
• Boarding within 15 days: new plans are set up within 15 days of sign-up. If not, you get a full refund of that first payment.
• What a plan covers: the upkeep, monitoring and hours listed for that plan on its sign-up page or in your Plan Schedule. Nothing else is included unless we agree it in writing. Unused hours don't roll over.
• What a plan doesn't cover: new features or new projects; fixing problems caused by changes made by you, your staff or another provider; outages, changes, price rises or security failures of third-party platforms; recovering data a platform has lost; legal or compliance advice; and handling a security incident beyond the plan's included hours.
• A PLAN IS AGREED UPKEEP AND MONITORING. IT IS NOT A GUARANTEE THAT YOUR APPS, ACCOUNTS OR DATA WILL BE SECURE, AVAILABLE OR ERROR-FREE. Monitoring tells us about some problems sooner; it can't catch every problem.
• Member perks and tools are available while the plan is active.
• Plan prices may change with at least 30 days' email notice. The new price applies from your next renewal after that notice.

4. Invoices and payment

• Projects need a 50% deposit before work starts. Once work has begun, the deposit isn't refundable, except as your signed agreement says.
• The rest is billed at the milestones in your Schedule, or on delivery for small projects.
• Invoices are due by the date shown. Zelle and bank transfer are free; Venmo and card payments include their processing fee, shown before you pay. Card payments are processed by Stripe, and we never see or store your card number. Any discount (such as a review credit) is applied only as described on the invoice.
• Late payment: I may pause work while an invoice is overdue. Overdue amounts carry interest of 1.5% a month (18% a year), or the highest rate the law allows if that is lower. You pay reasonable costs of collecting overdue amounts, including attorney and collection fees.

5. Your data is yours

• Your business data, and your customers' data, belong to you. That includes customer records, orders, financial records and anything your apps store or process.
• You decide what is collected, why, and how long it's kept. In privacy-law terms you are the owner and controller of that data. Where I handle it at all, I do so only to do the agreed work, on your instructions, as your service provider.
• To connect your tools I may need access to your accounts or API keys. I use them only for the agreed work, keep them out of code and email, and you can revoke them at any time. When a project ends without a plan, or a plan ends, I remove my access and tell you when it's done.
• Anything that sends to your customers is set up so you approve it, unless you choose otherwise in writing.

See the privacy policy for the data I collect about you as my client.

6. Third-party platforms

• I build on reputable third-party platforms, for example Cloudflare (Workers, D1 databases, Zero Trust sign-in), Shopify, Stripe, Xero, Gorgias, Google and Anthropic's Claude API.
• Everything is set up in your own accounts. Each platform account is in your name, owned by you and billed to you, and you accept each platform's terms directly with that platform. I'm added as a user with only the access the work needs. I never host your data in my own accounts.
• Each platform is responsible for the security, availability and operation of its own service, under its own terms. I don't control them, and I'm not responsible for their outages, breaches, data loss, changes, deprecations or price rises.
• If a platform change means your app needs updating, that work is covered by your plan if it is listed there; otherwise it is quoted separately.

7. AI features

• Some builds use AI services such as Anthropic's Claude API. AI output can be wrong, incomplete or out of date. Check it before you rely on it.
• AI features have spending caps, and a person on your team approves anything customer-facing unless you choose otherwise in writing.
• Data sent to an AI service is handled under that provider's terms. Don't send it health, payment card or government ID data unless we have agreed in writing how that is handled.
• You are responsible for decisions you make using AI output, and for telling your customers about AI use where the law requires it.

8. Security and breaches

I set apps up with care: limited access, sign-in protection, keys kept out of code and email, and the security settings each platform recommends. No system connected to the internet is perfectly secure, and I can't promise that yours won't be attacked.

Without a plan: ONCE A PROJECT IS DELIVERED, I HAVE NO ONGOING DUTY TO MONITOR, UPDATE, PATCH OR SECURE IT, AND I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DATA IN IT OR FOR ANY DATA BREACH, HACK OR OTHER SECURITY INCIDENT THAT HAPPENS AFTER DELIVERY.

With a plan: I do the upkeep and monitoring your plan lists. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, YOU AND THE PLATFORMS THAT HOLD YOUR DATA ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT DATA AND ITS SECURITY, AND I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR CUSTOMER OR FINANCIAL DATA OR FOR ANY DATA BREACH, HACK OR SECURITY INCIDENT, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT IT IS CAUSED BY MY GROSS NEGLIGENCE OR WILFUL MISCONDUCT.

Either way: if I become aware of a security incident affecting your data, I'll tell you without unreasonable delay and share what I know. You decide whether and how to notify your customers, regulators or anyone else; the law places those duties on you as the data owner. Help beyond your plan's hours is billed at my normal rate.

9. Your responsibilities

You are responsible for:

• Who has access: adding and removing your staff and contractors, and choosing their permissions.
• Passwords and sign-in: strong, unique passwords and two-step sign-in on every account, including the platform accounts that hold your data.
• Backups and exports: keeping your own regular backups or exports of important data, and checking you can restore them. A plan may help set this up; it doesn't make me the keeper of your data.
• Legal compliance: following the privacy, data-security, consumer and marketing laws that apply to your business and your customers' data, including privacy notices, consent, data-breach notices and answering your customers' data requests.
• Customer-facing messages: reviewing and approving emails, texts, replies and other messages before they go to your customers, and anything you choose to let send automatically.
• Telling me promptly if you notice anything unusual, or if your data, users or legal duties change.

10. Reviews and case studies

Reviews are published only if you tick "OK to share". Case studies are written only with your permission, with sensitive details removed, and you approve the final page before it goes live.

11. Warranties

If something I built doesn't work as described in your agreement, tell me within 30 days of delivery and I'll fix it at no charge. That fix is your only remedy for defects.

APART FROM THAT, EVERYTHING IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, I DISCLAIM ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTY THAT ANY APP, PLATFORM OR DATA WILL BE SECURE, UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE OR FREE OF DATA LOSS. Estimates of time or money saved are estimates, not promises.

12. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS:

• NEITHER OF US IS LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE LOSSES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, GOODWILL OR BUSINESS.
• I AM NOT LIABLE FOR LOSS, CORRUPTION OR DISCLOSURE OF DATA; ANY DATA BREACH, HACK OR SECURITY INCIDENT; OR THE COSTS THAT FOLLOW ONE, SUCH AS INVESTIGATION, NOTIFYING PEOPLE, CREDIT MONITORING, CHARGEBACKS, CARD-NETWORK ASSESSMENTS, FINES OR PENALTIES.
• MY TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR MY WORK, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR ANY OTHER THEORY, IS LIMITED TO THE LESSER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID ME IN THE ONE MONTH BEFORE THE EVENT THAT CAUSED THE CLAIM, OR (B) US$1,000.

These limits don't apply to anything the law doesn't allow to be limited, such as fraud, gross negligence or wilful misconduct, and they don't reduce what you owe me for work done. Claims are against Design Inc LLC only, not against any owner, employee or contractor personally.

13. Your indemnity

You agree to defend and pay for any claim, loss, fine or cost (including reasonable legal fees) that I face from a third party or regulator because of: your data or your customers' data; how you or your users use what I built; messages you approved or chose to send automatically; your instructions; content or materials you gave me; or your breach of these terms or of any law. This doesn't cover claims caused by my gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

14. Things outside anyone's control

Neither of us is responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside reasonable control, such as outages or failures of internet, power or third-party platforms, cyber-attacks on those platforms, natural disasters, illness, government action, war or strikes. This doesn't excuse paying for work already done. If the event lasts more than 30 days, either of us may end the affected work by email, and you pay only for work done up to then.

15. Law, disputes and the signed agreement

• These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, USA.
• If we disagree, we'll talk first. If that doesn't settle it within 30 days, either of us may take it to the state or federal courts located in Colorado, USA (or small claims court where it fits), and we both agree to those courts.
• TO THE EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, EACH OF US GIVES UP ANY RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL.
• Each of us pays our own attorney fees and costs, except that you pay reasonable costs of collecting overdue amounts (section 4).
• Where you've signed a Client Services Agreement, its terms win if they differ from this page. If any part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies.

If anything here is unclear, ask: the answer will always be in plain English.