How to Create a Freelance Contract that Benefits You & Your Clients

Welcome, my fellow freelancers — let’s start with a simple question:

How often do you make sure you’ve got a signed contract in place with a client before doing any work?

Chances are, it’s not every time. Certainly, from speaking with my peers and asking around in freelance communities, contracts are seen at best as a “necessary evil” and at worst as “not necessary at all.”

And that’s a problem — because used well, contracts not only protect you and your client, they’re also a way to build trust, manage expectations, and keep everyone happy. Yes, freelance contracts can actually be a force for good. If you spend some time creating a great freelance contract, getting it in place becomes easy.

A note: Before we go on, it’s important to state — I am not a lawyer! I’m just a simple freelance writer who has carried out research and created a contract of my own that I use successfully with clients. Naturally, if you want to check your contract over with a lawyer, you should do so. Nothing I am saying here constitutes legal advice, and you shouldn’t take it as such. OK, back to the article…

The Benefits of Having Your Own Freelance Contract

Contracts don’t just have to be legal prose, designed to inoculate you from a bad client. Yes, protecting yourself is certainly part of what a contract does, but they have several other benefits too:

• A contract protects the client as well — A contract doesn’t just have protections for you, it also tells your client the protections they have. It defines the terms both you and your client are working to and makes sure you both have a common approach.
• A contract manages expectations — A contract is a formalized agreement. Once it's signed, it tells both you and your client what they can expect, when they can expect it, to what quality, and for what price. It’s an essential part of a project, as it helps you set the scope.
• A contract is a document to refer to in case of disagreement — Disagreements happen. If you’ve got something noted in your contract, it’s your fallback position. It helps you clarify exactly what you will and won’t do.
• A contract holds you and your client to certain standards — You can set certain requirements in a contract, for example how quickly a client needs to respond to reviews and revisions. These requirements can make a freelancer’s life much easier.
• A contract is mutually beneficial — Ultimately, a contract should make any working relationship better, for everyone involved. It builds confidence in your client and makes sure the freelance services you provide are properly compensated.

Why You Can’t Just Wait for a Client to Send You Their Contract

Clients don’t often have contracts of their own. In my time as a freelance writer, I would estimate around 80% of my clients haven’t had a contract they want me to sign. That could be because it’s their first time hiring a freelancer, or, more likely, they haven’t taken through the time to set one up.

Going to a client with a contract makes you look more professional and prepared and saves you time so you can get on with your work. Having a contract also means you’ll never work without one, something all freelancers should avoid. We’ve all heard stories of disputes and freelancers that haven’t been paid. Having your own contract will help you avoid some of those issues.

Good Practices for Writing a Contract

In my time researching what makes a good contract and what should be included, I discovered some useful approaches:

• Language needs to be specific — Avoid ambiguity in a contract at all costs. Any language you use should be as specific as possible.
• Clearly define everything you’re going to do — Make sure you clearly set out all of the work you’re going to complete, together with timescales, quality expectations, deadlines, and prices.
• Include roles and responsibilities — It’s vital that both your client and you as a freelancer know what to expect from each other.
• Use plain English — Although some legal terms are inevitable, use plain, simple English as much as possible. Make your contract easy to read and understand.
• Format your contract well — Use appropriate headings and subheadings. Make sure your contract flows logically from point to point. Use lists and bullet points to break up complex areas.

A Freelance Contract, Broken Down and Explained

Below, I’ve included each part of the freelance contract I use and explained each section. The text from the contract itself is shown in italics, and I’ve commented where relevant. Please feel free to take what you want from this and adapt it to your needs. Replace anything in curly brackets with information that’s relevant to your business.

Title

Freelance {services} contract for {client name}

This is the title at the top of your contract explaining the type of contract and who it’s with.

Introduction

This contract, terms and conditions are designed to be easy to read and to create a reliable, straightforward, and understandable business relationship between the writer and the client. This document sets out the contract, terms and conditions for providing professional {service type} services between:

• {your name}, a {your title} working via {your company name, if applicable} (the freelancer)
• and {client name} at {business name} (the client).
• This contract is entered into on: {date}

This is all self-explanatory — just put your own details in here for each particular client.

About this piece of work, project or ongoing agreement

The freelancer agrees to provide freelance services to the client to the scope, quality, deadline and prices as outlined between them in writing via email and via this contract (see appendix A).

Work scope, services, turnaround times, services, and pricing

Please see appendix A at the end of this document for details of the scope, turnaround time, services provided and the schedule of fees. If the scope or other aspects of the work change beyond what was originally agreed between the writer and the client, services and rates may be renegotiated to take into account changes to the work.

In my contract I separate out the specific terms, scope, pricing and so on into a separate part of the document (appendix A) as that limits the amount of the contract I need to change. If you don’t have extensive services, or they’re easily explained, you can incorporate them into the body of the contract.

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by Paul Maplesden via SitePoint