ashe dryden

Welcome to the internet, my pretties. You're probably reading this because some shit just went down. Whoa, totally makes you lose your faith in humanity right? Declare the equivalent of moving to Canada via rage quit? I'm with ya. 

So, take a deep breath and let the rage subside a little. What can we do so this incident repeats itself with less frequency?

I was invited to speak on an episode of the Ruby Freelancers podcast today about client red flags and a lot of conversation seemed to center around what was in my contract.

I have a different contract style than most people: mine is in plain language (no legalese) and I consider it to be a living document. Whenever I have an issue with a certain process or client, I am sure to add language to my contract to insure that the issue won't come up again. I'm a big fan of being up-front with clients so they know what to expect from working with me. What better way to do this in a contract they can read and understand? No surprises makes for happy everyone.

I based my contract off of Andy Clarke's Contract Killer from 24 Ways from a few years ago. As you can see, mine has evolved a quite a bit from its original state, but I definitely recommend taking a look at his and reading his reasoning behind using a plain language contract.

Edit: I forgot to mention: I charge more if a client would prefer I sign their contract instead of signing mine. This allows me to get a lawyer to go over their contract as well as adjust to working more within their boundaries and constraints.

Note: I've removed any personal details and made it as easy for you to copy and paste to use for your own contracts. It is also available on github.