5 Things to Include in Your Freelance Contracts to Protect Yourself

Freelancers have mixed opinions about contracts. Enforcing a contract is challenging, as it often requires an attorney and money.

On the other hand, that’s the worst-case scenario (like not getting paid). Contracts are great for outlining the scope of a project. If a client asks you to do something additional, you point back to the contract as a reference point.

There are a lot of standard contracts on the internet and they work just fine. But I used to work as an executive at a software company, and I wrote contracts for custom projects. As a result, I know how to protect myself — and how to write contract terms that are favorable to me.

Here are some things you should always include in your contracts

1) The right to include the work in your portfolio

Your portfolio is one of your greatest assets as a freelancer. More than likely, a client will scope out your portfolio before ever reaching out. Your portfolio speaks to your skills, past experiences, and the type of work you can do. You want clients to look at your portfolio and envision what you could create for them.

As a freelance writer for tech companies, a lot of my work is ghostwritten. But I still want to include it in my portfolio as an example of what I can do. I include the following clause in my contracts:

Contractor reserves the right to publicly disclose its business relationship with Client. Contractor may mention Client in all forms of press and media, describe the kinds of projects done for Client and mention Customer and use information in any form, including sales presentations, pitches, and videos.

Some clients explicitly ask me to strike this clause, and I will. I’ll ask if they’re willing to add language that I can publicly disclose upon obtaining written permission first. It’s an extra step, but it at least leaves the door open that I could include the work in my portfolio.

My one exception to the above clause is if I’m ghostwriting social media for someone. In that case, my contract explicitly states that I won’t disclose the nature of the relationship. It’s different, in my opinion. When I’m writing something like a long-form blog post, there’s a reasonable expectation that the person bylined isn’t the writer, as many companies have content teams.

But writing LinkedIn posts for someone is more like a representation of that person, and I respect that relationship.

2) How many meetings you’ll attend

When you’re a freelancer, time is literally money. If you don’t outline how much time you’ll spend with clients, you could find yourself getting dragged onto endless calls.

In my scope, I outline that I’ll do one call per deliverable. It can be an internal call or an external call with a subject-matter expert. Since I’m a writer, if it’s a longer deliverable, I’ll do two calls. My contract also specifies a rate for additional calls, if they’re requested. With some clients, I’ll also include one strategy call per month.

My language for this is pretty straightforward:

Each deliverable can include one (1) 30-minute live meeting or interview per 1500 words. Requests for additional meetings or interviews will be billed at $75 per 30-minute meeting.

3) Rollover limitations for retainers

Retainers offer a lot of stability for freelancers since you have a predictable amount of work each month. However, they can also be a giant headache if you don’t structure them well. Without some type of use-it-or-lose-it policy, you can end up owing clients a lot of work.

I worked for two different marketing agencies, both of which had variations of retainer agreements with clients. One agency had a fixed number of deliverables per month, and deliverables could only roll forward one additional month. So, for example, if clients had four blog posts per month but didn’t approve any ideas, the next month, they would have eight blog posts. But if they still didn’t approve ideas, the four blog posts from the first month would expire.

The second agency had retainers that were for a specific time period (such as three or six months). Clients could use their allotted work in a variety of ways, but it had to be used by the end of the contract period. It didn’t have to be delivered — but the ideas at least had to be approved so someone could start working on the project.

Personally, I do very few retainers. I don’t like the idea that undelivered work from one month rolls into the following month. In that way, I’m losing out: I’ve reserved space for the client in one month and now have to give them more time in the second month — which prevents me from taking on other work. Almost all of my work as a freelancer is ad hoc.

No matter how you structure your retainer, make certain there’s a definite end or expiration date for the agreed-upon work.

4) Limits on hours for deliverables

I don’t like hourly work for several reasons. If you’re efficient, you’re punished. If you work slowly, clients may question the hours you’re putting in.

I was chatting with a freelancer friend recently about pricing a project for a client. She thought each deliverable would take 6–8 hours. I asked her if she thought she’d get faster over time (since she was hoping for a long-term relationship). She said yes. In this case, hourly pricing eventually doesn’t work in her favor.

Instead, you can charge a flat rate for “up to X hours.” In my friend’s example, she might charge $800 for up to 8 hours. Then state an hourly rate for anything above 8 hours. If it takes less than 8 hours, you’re still paid the same. And if it takes more than 8 hours, you charge more.

You’ll want to specify that clients need to approve additional hours in writing. You don’t want to send them a bill and then have them contest the hours.

When I did custom project management work, before my freelancing days, I’d notify clients when they’d used up 80% of their allotted hours if I thought the project was going to run over. If you’re tracking projects by hours up to a cap, you’ll need to keep an accounting of how you’re spending your hours so you can justify overages.

You’ll also want to think about why you’ve gone over the estimated hours. If your estimate was bad, it’s hard to ask clients for more money. They are expecting a specific deliverable based on a specific budget. But if you’ll exceed the hours because the client has been difficult or asked for a lot of changes, then it’s completely fair to bill for the extra time.

5) Payment isn’t dependent upon final approval

If a client’s payment is due upon final approval of a deliverable, you could be waiting forever. I’ve had clients take months to approve my work. But in the meantime, I’m not waiting for my money.

You can structure payment in any of the following ways:

• Invoice upon delivery of a first draft or first version (this is what I do)
• A fixed payment schedule (like one payment per month for 3 months)
• Invoice 2 weeks after delivery or upon approval, whichever is sooner

The last is kind of a hybrid approach — you are giving clients two weeks to review/approve. But if they take too long, you send an invoice.

If you have a client that absolutely insists on not paying you until they approve, don’t have the entire payment be dependent on approval. Request a payment schedule based on milestones, like 50% upfront, 25% upon delivery of a first version, and 25% upon approval.

Modify your contracts as things come up

My contracts are an ever-evolving document. As new situations come up, I’ll tweak the contract language to protect myself in the future.

In some cases, the client requires me to sign their contract instead of mine. I’ll provide the client with language that outlines the scope and ask them to include it in the contract (usually as Exhibit A). The language includes the payment schedule, the number of meetings I’ll attend, and anything else I want to include.

You might find yourself agreeing to something that wasn’t in scope because the contract language wasn’t clear. That’s a good reason to go back and modify your contract. I have a few standard contract templates I use (depending on the project) and I’ll immediately add new language. You always want to be thinking of ways to better protect yourself in the future.

This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Legal Advice. Consult a legal professional before making any major legal or contract decisions.

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