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Rant: Everyone says to use a contract but mine took 3 weeks to fix after a client changed their mind.
I paid a lawyer $400 for a standard freelance contract, but when a client suddenly wanted to pay half upfront instead of the full project fee, it took me 20 hours over three weeks to get the payment terms and scope adjusted correctly with my lawyer's help. Has anyone found a faster way to handle contract changes without losing a week's work?
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maryadams11d ago
Man that sounds so familiar. I spent $350 on a template that fell apart the first time a client asked for milestone payments. What saved me was creating a simple change order addendum. Now when a client wants to adjust terms, I draft a one page document stating the change, attach it to the original contract, and we both sign. My lawyer reviewed the first one for $150, and now I reuse that format. It cuts the back and forth down to a couple emails instead of weeks.
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ray72311d ago
Oh wow, I was totally in the "just get a lawyer" camp before too. But after a client wanted to switch from net-30 to net-60, my fancy contract was useless and I lost so much time. Now I keep a basic change template, just like a one page thing for new terms. I fill in the blanks, they sign it, and it's done. Saved my butt last month.
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