If you're really serious about freelance writing, you or your clients will eventually need to sign a contract especially for large projects. So I would like to know if anyone here drafted his/her own contract. If so, what did you put in there? Aside from that, how do you make contracts work if you and your client are based in different countries? I am also in the process of drafting my own contract (and having it checked by several lawyer friends I know), and would appreciate whatever input you can give.
I don't know how to draft a contract but I get a copy of draft at http://freelanceswitch.com/podcasts/downloads/kristen-fischer-contract.zip.
Hi there. Thanks for that link. I also checked it out a few days ago. But right now, I'm looking for something more specific which the sample sadly doesn't cover. Thanks anyway!
Since you are in Manila, you'll want to find a sample contract that will be able to stand up under the scrutiny of your country's court system should it require the ultimate test. There are plenty of sample contracts online, but I would want to make sure that how it is worded will protect my rights as much as my client's rights. Of course, I live in the litigious United States where attorneys make a living parsing words, thus my caution.
I understand, Matt. Sample contracts I saw from American sources are pretty detailed. LOL The thing is that I know several clients I can consult (for free at that!), I'm just looking for a template of sorts that I can work with.
I don't have a specific one in mind, but I know they used to be relatively easy to find. Instead of looking for freelance contracts, search for "independent contractor agreement." You'll probably turn up more that way.
Well, contracts won't work if the the parties are not reliable and both take a share of the profit. The best it to set several milestones in your project and release funds as these milestones are reached. That means that any party would only loose a certain amount of money or time if things get wrong.
I don't do any contracts—honestly, I don't think it's practical to take the time to sue someone for breach of contract and if you aren't going to back up the "threat" of the contract, why bother. What I do like to do for large projects is break up the billing into thirds. I complete 1/3 of the project, send it to the client. They request any edits they want and once I complete those, I resend the file with an invoice. This has worked for me on e-books, large websites, and other large-scale projects. Most clients become such frequent guests that I don't even end up being that structured about the billing, but new clients I always work in thirds. It's also nice to do it that way because if something happens on their end that makes the deal undoable, they are not obligated to pay me any remaining portion. I own the content they have not paid for and can use it for something else (unless it is content about a proprietary concept, in which case I'm out of luck). So, I'm glad I was of absolutely no help to you, cd )
may those are the elusive keywords i'm looking for. i'll check them out. thanks! there are clauses in contracts that prevent things like that from happening. That helped. At least it reminded me that there are still trustworthy people out there and kept me from losing hope on humanity entirely. lol What I'm probably looking for is a way to lessen the risk when there's a lot of money and time involved. It honestly gets tiring in the long run.
I'm actually with Y.L. in a general sense. I rarely use formal contracts for my freelancing. I just make sure the details are in writing. For example, today I sold a site to someone. Rather than a formal contract I just wrote up the terms about each of our responsibilities in an email and asked him to respond to that email so there was proof he received it and saw it. I also copied those terms into the notes on my invoice, so by paying it with the terms laid out there, they've been agreed to in writing. That's actually more than enough. Oddly, I've never had someone not pay me for work done on a big project. I've found that the clients on that side tend to be more trustworthy because they generally have something invested in those end results. Twice I've had people not pay, and I believe both projects were very small - between $50 and 75 or so I believe. On the other hand, I'm expecting some more formal info this week from someone I may be partnering with. In that kind of case where I may invest my time and talent for later rewards, I'd absolutely want everything officially laid out and agreed to. I suppose it only takes one bad apple to ruin it for you though. Contract or not, hope you manage to avoid them.
That's the strange thing, actually. It's actually a big project -- the works for a full blown site plus marketing. And they already plunked down a fairly huge sum of money. I also find it strange because I haven't been receiving replies through instant messages and emails for quite some time now. I just hope to finally get a feedback within the week. On a different note, two clients also ran away with fairly small sums - $60 and $75 each. And to think the guy who didn't pay me $60 has a business that handles big clients. ) Almost all of the people I worked with do pay. I just have to admit that it's sometimes disappointing when some of them don't. But anyway... back to the bit on not losing hope on humanity. lol
I wouldn't worry about it too much. Larger clients can also be the slowest to respond (sometimes they have to bounce something around to multiple people before getting back to you). In those cases, I send them periodic email reminders that we can't move forward and finish up their project until they respond. Eventually they always do.
Seconding Jennifer. I wouldn't worry about the response time, my biggest clients are always my slowest to respond. If I need a response to continue working I send an email with the question and let them know that I'm going to move forward with a different aspect of the project until I hear back. I then set a follow up for 1 week later to email them again. I don't email any more frequently than once per week to remind them to respond, and often even less than that simply because I don't want to nag them. Another thing that might help is not to lump questions in with emails on other issues. I have some clients who only read the first line or two of an email. I found that if I broke up issues into separate emails for these clients, I received a better response rate. Be careful that you don’t send so many that the emails appear to be spam
Jen, that's exactly what I tell them - that we can't move forward unless they give me the instructions for the next phase. Maybe I've just been bored lately and there's the temptation to nag. Hehe. Thanks for your inputs. I really appreciate that.
Freelance Switch posted this today, might be of some use to you: http://freelanceswitch.com/clients/what-should-be-included-in-a-design-contract/