4 T&Cs That Can Make Or Break A Freelance Writing Business
My interview with DevChat.tv’s The Freelancers Show was published this week.
I talked, in the episode, about some of the technical nuts and bolts that newbie writers might require on their quest to freelancing glory. Basic things like choosing and optimizing a CRM system, building an attractive looking website with good market positioning, and even setting up a branded email address.
An equally important subject is the matter of contracts. Cookie cutter examples abound on the internet — and many prefer to leave the drafting to a lawyer. But regardless of who’s doing the drafting, what terms to include is a hot button subject among freelancers.
My own contract development process has been unashamedly iterative. It works something like this. I spell out a contract, wait until something goes wrong in the form of encountering pain, and when it does, I fix it. I rise and repeat over the span of years.
The following are the terms which I have found essential to include in my standard contract, why I feel that way, and what kind of reaction you can expect if you’re tempted to borrow them.
Some of them, I realize, are likely to draw eye rolls, vociferous protest, or a variety of other strong reactions from freelancers and potential clients. But that’s okay with me.
Final introductory point: you need to make sure that you are emphasizing the value you’re adding to your client before you can expect the other side of this business relationship to acquiesce to your needs.
In other words, this isn’t a conversation to have at the very outset of a prospective business relationship. And speaking of those: everybody’s needs and businesses are different. But these are what currently work for me.
1. Limiting The Number of Allowable Revisions
My standard terms and conditions for my writing business currently allow only one round of revisions in the quoted price.
If clients need one more than one round of edits, I tell them that I’m happy to price by the hour. The primary objective here is to control the scope. As I wrote previously, when I quote a flat rate for a project, I do so based on a time estimate — and I need to protect my target hourly rate.
If I were to offer unlimited revisions, for instance, I would have no way of knowing whether a prospective clients might require one round of revisions or five — and the latter could entail hours and hours of work.
Writers who do offer unlimited rounds hope that most clients will request a reasonable amount of revisions and swallow the loss on the few that ask for ten rounds. I’m not suggesting that either approach is better. Just that this T&C is what I, and many writers, have found necessary to ensure the smooth operation of our businesses.
I would argue that this actually coaches clients into how to work with freelancers. If multiple stakeholders are reviewing a document it encourages them to organize internally before sending work back out to you for review.
- Why to include: If you don’t limit the number of revisions which clients can request, some will make unreasonable requests.
- What to expect: Most clients, in my experience, understand why this is necessary. It helps that it is relatively commonplace. Some might find it unacceptable.
2. Limiting Allowable Revision Timeframes
Here’s a more controversial one.
Early in the game, I was once working on a blog post for a software company. I was charging this company approximately $150 for a 1,000 word blog post.
My point of contact kept passing the document around to new people at the company. Two rounds of minor revisions went by in a flash.
Then, one sunny day, six months after initiating the project, and long after I had invoiced and been paid for the job, I received a request for just one more round of revisions.
I learned from that experience.
I would suggest putting a cap on the amount of time within which your clients can request revisions to your work.
- Why to include: Projects can hang in the air for months on end. If the client holds upon payment (see: payment terms) then this can seriously impact your cash flow.
- What to expect: Agencies will likely revolt against this because their payments to you are dependent, in their eyes, upon when their client pays them.
3. Billing For Meetings
It’s often difficult for salaried employees to grasp the economics and financial realities of being a freelancer. Painfully difficult (for us). And many organizations also have a meetings-centric culture.
As a freelance writer, feedback meetings can represent a serious threat to your scope control if you don’t set some limits around them.
Many freelancers will include a certain number of minutes for allowable meetings for each project. After that, clients will be billed by the hour and any travel expenses will have to be added to the invoice. I think that this is a good approach because it allows clients to convey some feedback about the project but discourages them from treating you as an always-available resource.
- Why to include: Many organizations will try to treat freelancers as salaried employees and ask them to participate in an exhaustive amount of meetings and other activities for which they are not being compensated. This is unfair. But it’s your job to avoid this situation in the first place.
- What to expect: Potential pushback. You may need to be flexible and negotiate slightly on this one.
4. Upfront Payment and Late Fees
If you thought that dealing with limits and request for endless Zoom meetings was fun, wait until you have to deal with chasing up late payments.
Freelancers hate having to work as their own debt collectors and it’s a situation that they shouldn’t be in. And yet almost anybody that knows a long term freelancer has heard some war stories about having to collect payments from clients after invoices are due.
Two things can help mitigate the risk:
- Ask for an upfront payment on large projects. The amounts vary by the project type, but asking other freelance writers for ballpark figures can be helpful.
- Levy late fees to encourage organizations to pay their invoices on time.
Strong Contracts Build Better Relationships
As counterintuitive as it might seem, I believe that better, more robust contracts make freelancing an easier experience for both freelancers and their clients.
Freelancers that know they are being taken advantage of tend to be miserable creates who do not do their best work. Enforcing some limits around allowable revisions actually encourages organizations to use outsourced and freelance resources more effectively.
Consider integrating some of the above terms and conditions into your next contract.
