Who Owns Your Course: Logins, Files, Domains, and Ad Accounts

Most experts ask a builder what the course will look like. Almost none ask who will own it.

That is the question that matters when something goes wrong. A builder disappears. A contract ends badly. A platform bill stops getting paid. At that point, the only thing that matters is whose name is on each account.

I have 17 years in paid acquisition, and I have seen what happens when an owner does not control their own accounts. This piece gives you five ownership questions to ask any builder before you sign, and the standard to hold them to. Part of the answer depends on which platforms you build on. I cover that in Kajabi, GoHighLevel, or Both.

This is not legal advice. Have a lawyer review any agreement before you sign it.

The platform accounts should be in your name

Your course lives inside software. Usually Kajabi, GoHighLevel, or both. The first question is simple: whose account is it?

If the course is built inside the builder's account, you are renting your own product. You cannot move it without their cooperation. You cannot see everything in it. If they stop paying, it goes dark.

The standard: the account is registered in your name, paid with your card, and the builder is added as a user. When the work is done, you remove their access. Nothing moves, because it was always yours.

At Freedom Builderz, that is how every build is set up. You own every asset we build, inside your own Kajabi and GHL environments.

You hold the admin login from day one

Owning an account on paper is not the same as controlling it. Ask who has the top level admin login, and when you get it.

The right answer is that you have it from day one. You may never use it. You probably should not touch the build while it is in progress. But you should be able to log in and see everything at any time.

If a builder wants to hold the admin login until the final invoice is paid, that tells you something about how they view the relationship. Payment terms belong in the contract, not in who holds your password.

If you want a clear picture of every system your business depends on before you hand anything over, the Expert Score maps it in a few minutes.

Get your Expert Score

The domain lives in your registrar account

Your domain decides where your sales page lives and where your emails send from. Whoever controls the registrar account controls both.

The standard: you register the domain in your own registrar account, with your email and your card. The builder gets access to update DNS records. They do not need to own it to do their job.

Domains are easy to lose because they get set up once, early, by whoever was helping at the time, and nobody thinks about them again until it matters.

The ad account and its data belong to you

This one is my lane, so I will be direct. The ad account, the pixel or dataset, and the business manager should belong to you. The media buyer gets added as a partner.

Why it matters: an ad account builds history. Conversion data, audiences, what has worked and what has not. That history is part of why a campaign finds buyers faster over time. If someone else owns the account, you lose all of it the day you part ways.

My standard, the same one I print on my own site: you own the data. You own the ad account. I document the system and train your team to run it. When I run traffic after an FBZ launch, it runs in your account.

The files and the list come to you during the build

The platform is the house. The files are what is inside it. Ask for all of them:

• Raw and edited video

• Source design files, not just exported images

• Copy documents, email sequences, worksheets, and slides

• An export of your contact list and customer records

Ask for these in a shared drive you own, and ask for them during the build, not only at the end. A builder who is proud of the work has no reason to hold the files back.

Composite example: the course they could not move

This is a composite of what I see, with no real client behind it.

An expert hires a freelancer to build her course. To move fast, the freelancer sets it up inside his own platform account, registers the domain under his email, and runs a few ads from his own ad account. The course launches and sells.

A year later, the freelancer takes a full time job and stops answering. The platform bill lapses. The course goes offline. The domain is in his name. The ad history is in his account. She owns the content in her head and nothing else. She rebuilds from zero.

Every one of those problems was a five minute setup decision at the start. That is why these questions come before the contract, not after. If you are still deciding between an agency, freelancers, or a builder, read Course Agency vs Course Builder vs Freelancers.

What to do next

1. Audit what you have now. List every platform, domain, and ad account your business uses. Next to each, write whose name and card is on it.

2. Move what is not yours. Transfer anything registered to a contractor into your own name. Start with the domain.

3. Put the five questions in writing. Send them to any builder before you sign. Ask for the answers in the contract, and have a lawyer review it.

Not legal advice. Just the checklist I would want every owner to run.

Book your build call

If you want a course built inside accounts you own from day one, book your build call.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns the intellectual property in an online course built by an agency?

It depends entirely on your contract and on whose accounts the course lives in. You want written language that assigns you ownership of the content, copy, design, and video, and you want everything built inside platform accounts registered to you. Have a lawyer review the agreement. This is not legal advice.

Should my course be built on my own Kajabi or GoHighLevel account?

Yes. If the course lives inside the builder's account, you are renting your own product. Build inside accounts registered in your name and paid with your card, then add the builder as a user. When the engagement ends, you remove their access and everything stays with you.

Who should own the domain for my course?

You should. Register the domain in your own registrar account, in your name, with your email and your card. A builder can be given access to update DNS records without ever owning the domain. If they own it, they control where your sales page and email sending point.

Should an agency own my Facebook ad account?

No. The ad account, the pixel or dataset, and the business manager should belong to you, with the media buyer added as a partner. Your ad account history and conversion data have real value. If someone else owns them, you lose that history the day you part ways.

What files should I get from my course builder?

Raw and edited video, source design files, copy documents, worksheets, slide decks, email sequences, and an export of your contact list. Ask for them in a shared drive you own, not a link to theirs, and ask for it during the build, not only at the end.