Being a freelance designer requires you to wear many hats but there are certain hats you MUST wear in order to protect yourself, who you are, and your image as a designer.
1: Before you do anything, make a contract for you and your clients
No matter who it is for, even if its a friend of a friend, make a contract. Of course it’s a bit dramatic to throw a contract at your relative that wants a website or business card designed for their business, however if you do not know the client requesting your services, you need to have a contract. If you would like to use my contract as a template or an sample, you can download HERE. You can even use mine for yourself (just make sure to change the header or delete it so it doesn’t say my studio name on it).
Now I know as designers we don’t want to write a paper, let alone a legal document, however you spending that one weekend afternoon writing up a contract will last you forever. You only have to write one up once, and you can keep using that over and over with making small adjustments once a while to fit the project. It will be worth it in the long run for these reasons:
1) It protects you, the designer, from a client running off with your work. With this contract, you can take them to small claims court. Either way, it will put your client on a moral decision to run off with your work and disappear or be being summoned by a court to pay up (which would make them look bad.)
2) It protects the client and makes them feel safe to do business with you. It also reflects professionalism on your end. A designer who just jumps on a project without any communication of conduct screams “amateur”, and you don’t want that.
3) It helps you get paid. When they sign that contract, they have fully accepted in how the payment is going to be made. Currently I work at 10% deposit at the beginning of project, another 10% at the final cycle of revisions, and full payment at final content delivery. They have to follow this payment cycle when they sign that contract.
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