Protecting Your Business with a Contract - Interview with Jaime Bell
As business owners, and creatives, we know first hand the importance of legally protecting yourself. Having gone through the experience of someone blatantly stealing photographs, and then passing them off as their own, having a written contract in place meant they couldn’t get away with it.But what if we hadn’t had a contract in place? That’s what today’s guest Jamie Bell, owner of @contractsmarket, is chatting about. Jamie runs her own law firm in British Columbia as well as providing legal contract templates for entrepreneurs.Jamie is quick to point out that the reasons you should have a written contract are not just about being able to go after someone if they’ve stolen your photographs.Having a contract in place will also help ensure you get paid, save you time, and allow you to be proactive vs. reactive.So who needs a contract? Everyone. If you have a website it’s a requirement that you have a privacy policy. If you’re collecting data from your website visitors it’s the law to provide information as to how that data will be used and stored. And though it may not seem obvious, even product based businesses need a contract. This can be shared on your website in the form of your refund and chargeback policies. Having this information available on your FAQ page will save you time answering repeat questions. All you have to do is refer your customers to the page.At what stage in your business should you implement contracts? ASAP. Having a contract, or policy, in place sets the boundaries in your business. When you are clear (no vagueness here) It makes communicating with customers so much easier. And sets the tone that: “If you don’t get paid, you don’t start work.”What does she recommend not doing? She is not a fan of using emails as a makeshift contract. So much can get lost in a backlog of emails and what is agreed upon can be hard to decipher. Not to mention, if a situation needed to go to litigation it would take lawyers a lot longer to sift through emails than a contract. With that being said, drafting a contract in language that is completely out of character is not necessary. Write in your own words so your customers can understand what they are agreeing to.Make sure to connect with Jamie!OnlineOr on Instagram @contractsmarketWe would be so grateful if you left a review on Apple Podcast. Five star is always wonderful! Want to snag our library of 700+ professionally styled and photographed stock images?? Click HEREHave a question for us? Check us out on Instagram @thesocial.focus and send us a dm!www.thesocialfocus.coOn Instagram we are:@angela.s.doyon@natcaronphotoWe love and use Buzzsprout to host Instagram for Business Podcast and they have made it easy and seamless (plus their customer service is by far one of the best!)This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.