Your client contract is a lot simpler, legally, than you think. Its simplicity has been shrouded by legalese, by lawyers, and by legal zoom. 

There’s a (mis)perception that you need a lot to go into it, in a very specific way. 

You do not. 

Your client contract is actually very flexible and customizable, outside of 3 basic elements. 

The law of contracts developed and is designed that way: to reflect and enforce the chosen relationship between people and businesses. 

So, let’s talk about what a contract is—and what it is not (and get any misconceptions you might have out of the way).

What a contract is: 

A contract is a legally-binding agreement about a relationship in which there is an exchange of value. 

I emphasize the relationship at the center of a contract because for you—for me and for all of my clients—the client relationship is the focus and priority. 

The contract is a vehicle to provide clarity and agreement in that relationship. It is typically only one aspect of the relationship—and it is always in furtherance of the relationship. 

The relationship guides the contract, not the other way around. (I’ll be sharing more on how.)

What a contract is not:

A contract is not legalese. It is not the form language that’s repeated over and over again, except in a few specific instances. 

A contract is not imposed by the law from on high (typically). Your client relationship guides the contract, not the other way around—and generally, except in some very specific circumstances, you have a lot of flexibility about what that looks like.

Contracts as a body of law literally evolved this way. Judges deciding disputes between people who had made an agreement began their analysis by looking at how people were making agreements—and why. 

They asked: What are people’s expectations from and for each other when they enter into an agreement? What—and why—is it valuable for the law to hold them to those expectations? 

We can (and should) critique the cultural assumptions and power imbalances that gave rise to contract law. Law is contextual, and that’s the point. The law of contracts itself is an example of creating structure (and collective accountability) out of what already was. 

You can use that to your advantage to craft a client contract that’s exactly right for your business. You are not subject to one being imposed upon you. 

A contract is not the piece of paper that the agreement is written on. It’s not the document that you send. It’s not the terms of service that are at the bottom. 

The contract is the agreement between you and your client. That’s it. It exists in that real world dynamic. 

The value in creating a written client contract is clarity. You remove the ambiguity and chance that you remember one thing about your agreement and your client remembers another—and you save the time, energy and (potential) anxiety of sorting that out. 

Literally, the term for a written contract is a memorialization. You write a contract so that you both have a clear memory of your agreement. 

Are you feeling drawn to crafting a client contract that’s exactly right for your relationship with your clients? 

I’d love to work with you to do that.