The 1 thing you are allowed to obsess over when you start your biz (or at any point)

Woot! Your business-baby is finally pushed out out into the world, booyah!

You’ve spent months obsessing over what your brand colors should be, building and tweaking your website, designing (and redesigning) the perfect business card, and fiddling with your logo… and you’re ready to hit the ground running now, right?!

So what I’m wondering is – and trust me, no shame here – just how much time did you spend deciding between twelve different brand color possibilities and scrolling through Google fonts?

Hours? Weeks? A few months?

And compared to that, how much time did you spend researching a solid contract that protects you, your business, your assets, and your relationship with your clients?

… *crickets*

If the answer is “not much time,” believe me, you’re not alone. It’s totally normal and natural to spend all our time and money on the fun things.

I mean, of course making all those decisions takes work, but thinking about colors and websites is way more enjoyable and feels “safe,” especially when you’re not sure WHAT exactly you need to be worried about, legally-speaking, and what kind of contract you need to cover all your bases.

I hate to say it, but websites and logos and colors don’t last very long in the online business world. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a statistic somewhere that most websites last for about two years before being updated or overhauled again.

(This may or may not be something I know about intimately, *cough* having redesigned my website three times in the last two years!)

What I’m saying is, yes, having a website and a logo and all that is important, but your return on investment isn’t very high. Plus, you can always go in and tweak your website info or add a logo or change things up as your business gets rolling. There’s always time.

Know what you can’t do?

You can’t go BACK in time to bypass a “situation” with a difficult client so that you get paid what you agreed on, when you expect it. Or timehop to clear up misunderstandings about what exactly you were doing for them and when, before it ever becomes an issue.

A good, solid contract should cover information like:

• How much your service costs
• Whether you require a deposit or not
• When full payment is due, or the schedule for making payments
• What kind of work you’re doing for the client, the deliverables you’re creating, and the timeline for that work to be done
• Who owns the copyright on the work you create
• What happens when payment isn’t delivered as agreed

Having a client’s signature on a contract so they can’t say “You never told me that!” … now that’s got a pretty solid ROI to it.

Not only will a good quality contract save you hours of headaches (not just in dealing with your clients, but each time you’re trying to remember all the stuff you need to cover when doing a project), it can help protect you in the event of something going seriously wrong.

Ready to make sure your business is protected, learn more about what you NEED to have in your contract, and start getting a long-term return on your contract investment? Browse our templates. With a 14-day no-nonsense refund period, they’re basically risk-free.

Wanna join up with other fab business owners get more tips and tools for growing your business? Join me over in the Law Law Land Facebook group!