Privacy Policy

Who we are

The Layered Future (TLF) is run by Cloos Effects LLC, based in Jefferson, Ohio 44047. You can reach us at info@thelayeredfuture.com.

What we collect

• What you type in. Your name, email and message when you use a form on this site.
• Quiz answers. Your answers to the 5-minute Quick Check. These stay in your browser unless you ask us to email your result.
• Your email for free resources. If you unlock free resources, we keep your name and email so we can send them.
• Payment details. Payments are handled by Stripe or PayPal. We never see or store your full card number.
• Basic visit data. Google Analytics counts visits and pages viewed. It tells us things like how many people visit, which pages they read and roughly where they come from (city or country level). It does not tell us who you are.
• Small settings in your browser. We remember your light/dark choice and whether you unlocked the free resources. This stays on your device and isn't sent to us. The link in your welcome email turns the unlock back on in another browser. It is the same for everyone and contains no personal information.

How we use it

• To answer your message or book a call.
• To send the resources you asked for. Newsletters and updates go only to people who tick the newsletter box. Every email has an unsubscribe link.
• To improve the site and our services.
• We do not sell, rent or trade your information. Ever.

Your business knowledge and AI

When you work with us, your business knowledge stays yours. We use AI tools to help organize and build your systems, and we set them up with privacy settings that don't train public models on your data where the tool allows it. We never use your private business information in our own content without your written OK.

Who helps us run the site

We use a few trusted services. They only get what they need to do their job:

• Netlify: hosts the website.
• Web3Forms: delivers website form messages to our email.
• Google: Gmail (where messages to info@thelayeredfuture.com arrive), Google Analytics (visit counts) and Google Fonts (the site's fonts).
• Stripe and PayPal: process payments. We never see your full card number.
• Cal.com: books intro calls and adds them to our Google Calendar.
• Kit: sends our newsletter, if you sign up, and tags you if you ask for your AI Search Ready Check results or unlock our free resources, including the Prompt Library.
• Resend: emails you your AI Search Ready Check results link, and your welcome email with the download and library links when you unlock free resources.
• Cloudflare Turnstile: checks that people using our free tools are human. It may use technical details like your IP address and browser type.

Cookies

We use Google Analytics cookies to count visits and see which pages help people. We don't use advertising cookies, and we don't sell or share data for ads. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, or use Google's opt-out add-on (tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout). Your light/dark setting and free-resource unlock are saved only in your own browser.

How long we keep it

Form messages and emails: kept while we're talking and up to 2 years after, unless you ask us to delete them sooner. Client project files: kept for 6 months after the work ends, then deleted or handed back to you. To improve our services we may keep anonymous, combined patterns (for example, which tasks take the most time) that cannot identify you or your business. You can ask us to delete them sooner at any time. AI Search Ready Check: the website address you enter and its results are kept for up to 2 years so your private results link keeps working. To stop abuse we briefly keep a scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address, which can't be read back. Your email stays on our list until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it.

Your choices and rights

• Ask what information we have about you.
• Ask us to fix it or delete it.
• Unsubscribe from emails anytime, with one click.
• Email info@thelayeredfuture.com and we'll respond within 30 days.

Keeping it safe

We use secure connections (HTTPS) and reputable providers. No system is perfect, so we keep what we collect to a minimum.

Children

This site is for businesses and adults. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 13 (16 in some places). If you think we have, tell us and we'll delete it.

California, EU and UK visitors

If you live in California, the EU or the UK, you have extra rights under laws like the CCPA and GDPR, including the right to know, correct, delete and get a copy of your data, and to not be treated differently for asking. We don't sell or share personal information for advertising. Email info@thelayeredfuture.com to use any of these rights.

Changes to this page

If we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top. Big changes get a note on the site.