For many freelancers, a huge motivator in their work involves freedom. Freedom to choose working hours, location(s), and sometimes even specific days of the week to work. However, despite how flexible freelancing has the potential to be, its freedom comes with a price. This price is finding and maintaining a steady stream of work and clients, and managing your business on your own. Protecting oneself while being self employed is a significant piece of this pie; the health of your one-person business relies on clients paying you regularly and on time. One way to ensure this, is to create a freelancer contract with your clients before work commences.
When a freelancer creates a contract for a potential client, it’s doesn’t necessarily have to be a legal document, but it still constitutes proof of the work to be done, should any disagreements arise. It also gives both sides transparency when it comes to a project’s specifics.
Send your clients a payment request and payment reminders, reduce late payments
Each client works a bit differently. While clients should have a contract with each freelancer, even for a one-time gig, it’s important to note that clients will often have their own standard contract for working with freelancers, and this is tends to be more prominent in larger companies. Upon reviewing and possibly agreeing to the terms of a contract, a freelancer should always make sure that his clients (or his own) contract include the following:
Now that you have an idea as to what clauses to include in your freelancing contract, you’re ready to draft one to provide to clients that do not have one available. This isn’t difficult, as there are plenty downloadable freelancer contract templates that you can edit to your liking. To ensure a positive experience with your next client, come prepared with a detailed contract, and make sure to really go over any contract presented to you.
The aforementioned link is a great way to understand your rights as a freelancer, so if you have any doubts or questions, there are plenty of resources from the Freelancer’s Union in the link that will bring forth some more clarity in this aspect your work.
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