Story: Business and professionalism
I have a couple of trial experiences in Vancouver, BC. The BC court considers email as evidence during a trial. Even so, when we use government service for the business issue, the first question is, “do you have a contract?”. As I said email works, but I cannot say it looks professional.
In 2022, I am making an onboarding process. I made a checklist and the early stage of the process is the contract. The client may feel overwhelmed. Anyway, I have a PDF template.
CONTRACT
1. Project overview
– Client: XYZ Corporation (*Make sure the name is a registered business name)
– Address: 1234 Abc Street, Vancouver, BC, A1B2C3
– PIC(person in charge): Daniel Scott
– Phone: +1.234.567.8901
– Email: daniel.scott@xyz-corporation.com
– Project: Website development
– Data: September 30th, 2020
– Deadline: October 30th, 2020
*Please keep quick response(feedback) in 2-3 days(48-72 hours) for meeting a deadline.
*Setting each milestone is available. Please ask me before we start working on a project.
*All materials will be in the Media folder at the WordPress hosting server, jpg, png, svg files are provided if necessary.
2. Payment term
– Project fee: 50% upfront, 50% before delivery (*GST 0.05% will be applied)
– Payment method: Credit card through Wave Accounting, E-transfer or check
– Payment deadline: 1 week for the upfront fee, 2 weeks for the remaining fee
*The programmer, illustrator, photographer, digital marketer, and any other costs are not included.
*When the payment is delayed without prior notice, the fee will be increased by 0.05% per week. (This is not always included)
3. Deliverables
– Website, hosting server information, images, the vector file, update manual
4. Scope of work
Frontend development
– Project alignment
– Market research
– Mood board
– Wireframing
– Prototype
– Development
– Running Test
– Deployment
Backend development
– Server setup
– CMS template setup
– Basic plugin/SEO setting
5. Revisions and additional work
– The revision is available 3 times.
– If the client requires revision over 4 times, the client will be charged $35 per hour.
*I just mention it for protecting the endless revision. Normally, I don’t change.
6. Copyright and IP protections
– Copyright of the website belongs to the client.
– Open Bookmarks Co. possesses the right of the project for display as a portfolio on the website and posting on social media.
7. Legal protections
– For leave piece of evidence, the client and Open Bookmarks Co. mainly communicate by Email (or project management software, Slack, Asona, Monday.com). Occasionally, a phone/zoom call is available.
8. Termination
– The client can cancel before website development if the prototype design did not meet a client’s expectation.
– Upfront payment will cover the prototype cost.
– Upfront payment is not refundable except Open Bookmarks Co. faced an inevitable problem(sick, accident etc) or neglect a duty for the project.
Signature
Beau Ireland
Data: September 30th, 2020
This is my contract template and I send it in PDF occasionally. It is okay, but it’s not a smart way in 2022. I am sure that there is a SaaS for a smart contract. I searched it.
Creating A Basic Freelance Contract
©Open Door Creative
Align both client and service provider on the same page
– Logo, company name
– Date
– Contract document number
– Client info
– Summary
– Invoice
*I separate it and Wave Accounting takes care of it.
– Cancelation
– Confidentiality
– Make sure that this is a legal agreement.
Sounds quite official below the estimate section. He may use a lawyer. I prefer 50% upfront and I believe it’s better, not only protection but also responsibility. I cannot estimate except stock photos or other pieces which the video mentions. I include expective material costs. I don’t want to protect only designers overly. Should be protected both.
FREE Contracts for Freelancers | Tutorial
©Erin Booth
If I don’t use the tool frequently, free is good. Subscription does not make sense. There was no legal description section, attachment?.
How to get clients to SIGN THEIR CONTRACT electronically (Adobe Sign Review | electronic signature!)
©Heart Behind Hustle TV
I did not know Adobe Sign. You may think Adobe Acrobat may be an alternative. I checked the price and plan. Adobe Sign is an additional service of Adobe Acrobat.
Online contract software
There are many services and some of them are free for 1 user. If we have 3 free options, which services should we use? I compared the paid plan. Dokobit is the first choice. The second for Pandadoc, then Juro. I don’t dislike eSignature.io. Paid by each contract is freelance friendly. Other services are famous and no free contract, only a trial. I heard the company name through YouTube Ads. They are not targeting solo freelance.
Conclusion: Up to your condition
Recently, there are many tools for making a contract document, such as Adobe Illustrator, Canva, or Google Docs, etc. I need only the e-sign function. I can upload 1 page PDF contract. I wanted to add a one-click signature button to the document. That’s it. I don’t know whether the service exists or not.
I did not use a contract for the under $5K project. I am not sure whether I will use it below the $1K project or not. I, as a freelance, decrease expenses as much as possible. I am okay to pay if I really use it frequently. In my case, I choose free service first, or an on-demand contract.
Actually, free is not free. It’s marketing, potential customer acquisition. I may tweet if I like it, word of mouth. Anyway, I want to pay back once I grow my business someday. It’s a natural human mentality.
