I'm a freelancer that offers bespoke marketing solutions, and most of the time with my repeat clients who have paid me before, and even newer clients I haven't worked with (but big clients with 50+ employees) I usually forego the contract process just to help them streamline the process so I can get to work immediately. I usually go ahead with an email confirmation from the client and I get to work.
The main reason why I'm rather lax with contracts is because – realistically I can't do anything even if they don't pay. Luckily this has never happened to me before (since the deal range I work with is only within $2,000, and my clients are very established) and I'm simply a freelancer without a legal team, so it's not like I'm going to file a lawsuit that will cost me tens of thousands just to recover $2,000. I'm just curious if anyone else thinks like this?
Is there any point in getting clients to sign a contract as a freelancer?
byu/Independent_Area6026 inEntrepreneur
Posted by Independent_Area6026
3 Comments
You’re right that using over $2k usually isn’t practical. But contracts aren’t really about lawsuits. They mostly prevent misunderstandings before they happen. Even a simple 1 page agreement that covers scope, payment terms, timeline, and revisions will save headaches later.
With repeat clients I sometimes keep it lightweight. A short agreement once, then future work just references it in email. It keeps things fast but still protects both sides if expectations ever drift.
I ran a B2B, and I have some mixed customers, from small companies to multinationals. Also, I work for the government (fuck government).
If you ask a company to sign a contract, then you are raising a huge red flag. They won’t do that unless you are selling a service for over a million dollars. The **purchase order** is more than enough.
Its suprisingly but the B2B market is all about trust.
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I have a mix of clients big and small, mix of relationships contractual and ‘handshake’
In your situation I likely wouldn’t move forward without some type of paper trail, but that paper trail can be as simple as a scope of work email that they reply back to with a yes or no (or requested revisions).
If what you’re doing is working for you, then there’s really no huge need to change it. For what we do the paper trail is important if nothing else to establish a standard of communication but of course other things like avoiding problems down the road with misunderstood deliverables