PUT IT IN WRITING

Everyone Needs Great Written Contracts

by Joelle Steele

Whether you're an individual or a business, you need to have a written contract for whatever transaction you are conducting. But don't write your own or buy one without having an attorney review it. My contract templates are always reviewed by an attorney before I put them on the sales block, but every state, county, city, and country has its own set of laws, and you might need an additional paragraph ... or two. They should and probably will work in your area without any changes, but paying for a quick consultation with your local attorney is a small price to pay for complete peace of mind.

A contract should not be intimidating. Its purpose is to ensure that both you and the person or entity with whom you are conducting a transaction fully understand exactly what your individual and joint responsibilities are. You both need to know who is doing what, when and how it is supposed to be done, how much it is going to cost, and how it is going to be paid. A contract does not have to be written in the archaic legalese that baffles so many people. Plain old English works just as well, as long as it is written clearly and correctly.

If you buy a contract template online, such as the ones I write and sell, it will probably be in a boilerplate-type of format in Word. This means that it is a more or less standard contract that includes every kind of inevitability for the type of transaction that it covers. It will probably be quite thorough, but may be more thorough than you need, and that means you might have to delete the services you don't offer or make minor adjustments to certain paragraphs. You may also have to add a few things, such as services you provide that are not already in the contract.

The best way to use a boilerplate-type contract template is to go to the File Menu in Word and click on "save as," give the file a new name, then use that newly saved contract for making the most basic changes that apply to all of your clients. For example, add any services or products you regularly provide that are not in the contract, and delete any services or products that you never provide. Fill in your own fees, your address, your name, etc. This now is your basic contract from which you will create all the others for each individual client. When you want to make a contract for a new client, you open up your version of the contract, again go to the File Menu and click on "save as," and then name the contract file something like Contract-Harrison.doc, for a contract with someone or some company called Harrison. Now you can use this newly-made contract to customize it specifically for your agreement with Harrison.

Try not to get overwhelmed by the comprehensiveness of some boilerplate-type contracts, or you'll start thinking that you only need something very simple and basic. And maybe you do, but what is "simple and basic"? I have read a lot of contracts that were drawn up by small business owners and individuals, and I can assure you that some of them would never hold up in a court of law. They are written incorrectly, don't include paragraphs that are critical, have conflicting language, and often don't even make sense. It's a wonder anyone ever signs them in the first place.

But they do. And most of the time, it probably won't even matter because most agreements go according to plan with or without a contract. But what happens when something does go wrong? That contract can mean the difference between getting paid and not getting paid, or losing the shirt off your back. So, take action today and get yourself a contract. Put it in writing now and protect yourself and your business.