Image courtesy of Jeroen van Oostrom/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Back in October, I wrote an extensive post about starting a freelance business out on the right foot and, among other helpful nuggets, I included the following tip:
Contracts
Unless you are crafting a flyer for your grandmother’s church picnic, use a contract. An elaborate contract is the safest bet, but a simple contract can work also, provided all of your bases are covered. Heck, if her church has a board of directors, you may want to use a contract for that church picnic flyer too. Nothing personal grandma! At the very least, your contract or agreement should contain:
♦the date of the agreement;
♦your name and address, the name and address of the business hiring you and the signer’s name;
♦a detailed description of the project, including the medium and format of the work;
♦the number of pages, if it’s a print document;
♦the various parts and stages of the project;
♦the number of edits and revisions you will allow;
♦the dates of delivery for each stage of the project, if more than one stage;
♦your fee and its due date(s);
♦a list of terms and conditions; and
♦both parties’ signatures.
In that vein, recently, I discovered that our friends over at freelancersunion.org have a complimentary tool for freelancers to easily and quickly create contracts for their businesses. I’d advise you guys to check it out. I used it myself last night just to test it before letting my newsletter subscribers in on the tool. I wanted to make sure it worked smoothly. Lo and behold, it worked perfectly! Check it out here.
“A lean agreement is better than a fat judgment” – Proverb Quotes
I am also a freelance writer and this will come in handy. It is funny to think how us writers start off with websites like Yahoo Contributor (formally Associated Content) and end up writing for others as a freelance writer. This contract is something that every writer should take a look at and use. I made the mistake of not having a contract when I first started branching off and was ultimately screwed in the end.
In my opinion, every writer should have a contract and one that is well written so that every little detail is lodged into it. These contracts could save you a lot of heartache in the long run.
I actually found a wordpress plugin that you can use to create contract forms. I was able to tweak it a bit to fit my needs but after reading your article I realized that I left some valuable information off of it and now I have to go back and fix this before I have anymore contracts signed. The plugin that I am talking about allows your signers to print it off and either email, mail, or fax it back to you.
I ended up being suckered a time or two because I didn’t have a contract. I learned from my lesson and now I read every contract that I sign and I always make someone sign a contract before I do any form of work for them. It’s a liability issue and you always want to be prepared for it.
That’s great Jupiter. I don’t think any work should ever be done without a contract. It just makes your business life easier in the end.
I actually found a wordpress plugin that you can use to create contract forms. I was able to tweak it a bit to fit my needs but after reading your article I realized that I left some valuable information off of it and now I have to go back and fix this before I have anymore contracts signed. The plugin that I am talking about allows your signers to print it off and either email, mail, or fax it back to you.
They seem to have a plugin for everything. Well, I’m glad you were able to use the Freelancer’s Union’s form to revise yours.
I’ve come up with a fill-in contract form of my own in Word that is sufficient for my business at this time, but I really like the look of the Freelancer’s Union one as well. I’d like to give a bit of advice about those terms and conditions you mention as a important part of ever contract. Make sure you include the penalties – if any – for late payments and other failures to comply with the contract. The more detailed your contract, without being burdensome, the better.
That’s a great idea – including penalties in the contract. Heck, lawyers have them in their retainer agreements, and we should too. It may put some folks off, but if they are honorable people, they should not have a problem with it.
I am at the very start of my copywriting career (hopefully career!) and am having a hard time bridging the hobby-to-business gap. I find it hard to send out contracts before I begin work. I suppose that’s completely silly and you’re probably shaking your head at me right now. Haha! Maybe I’m afraid to offend my clients. Anyway, I love the link you gave to the pre-made contracts site. That gives me a lot of peace of mind knowing I’m actually using a completely professional one.