Contract Worker - Freelancing Experiences

What Makes a Great Contract Great

by Rico on June 20th, 2007

In the last post, I (hopefully) helped out Alfa:

Alfa: This is one situation that I’m dreading to experience. Many of the projects, almost 99% of ‘em, are without any printed contract. Is there any Web 2.0 online contract signing service available? How do you get around this kind of situation? I’m not used to asking for contracts but as my projects get bigger, I realize the need for them. Are there any online alternatives?

Yours Truly: Well, to be honest, contracts made online are very hard to enforce, because it’s pretty hard to demand compliance when you’re halfway around the world. Nevertheless, the clarity a contract brings will always make life easier, both for you and future clients. I suggest consulting this great online guide on freelance contracts; by taking the time to make your own contract, you’ll be very familiar with its terms.

The guide I linked to is wonderful, because its author endlessly asks the question What does your contract say? A good contract, just like a good promise, should be as specific as possible, at least when referring to the project itself. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it once again: Answer the important questions now, and you won’t have to fight over the specifics later on. It’s an old formula really, working harder in the short-term to make the long-term easier to deal with.

Share This

Related Stories

• 5 Ways to Great Ideas
• An Easy Way to Come Up With Creative Ideas
• Five Minutes to Better Productivity
• Quick Idea-Generation Techniques, #5
• Garr Reynold Just Performs to Make an Impact

POSTED IN: Marketing Your Skills, Sites to Bookmark, Useful Info, Useful Tools