This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey my friends, what's up? My name's Chris Guillebeau. Welcome back to the Side Hustle School Podcast. This is a hub for all things entrepreneurial. It has a daily podcast, seven days a week, all designed to help you make extra money without quitting your job by using a skill you already have and without going into debt.
Those are good things as well. So we have lots of different case studies, listener questions, tips, ideas, a hundred percent focused on that mission. And joining us today from Los Angeles, we've got a caller, Lucas. Lucas has been diving headfirst into freelance writing with a focus on tech and startups. That's a very smart focus for freelance writing, I think there's a lot of commissions there.
And also the pay tends to be a lot better than just, you know, general freelance writing anywhere. Lucas's secret weapon, like so many freelancers these days is chat GPT. He's using chat GPT to help draft his articles. But as he takes on more clients, he's starting to face a more traditional challenge of freelancing long before AI came along, client contracts. Yeah, Lucas is seeking advice on how to draft the contracts, what terms to include, how to manage revisions, basically how to look after himself without diverting all of his attention to a non sexy topic of, you know, how do you draft a freelance contract?
So Lucas has hit on this crucial yet often overlooked aspect of freelancing. Let's just break it down in a few minutes and help ensure your business runs smoothly. All right, his question and my answer after this quick message from our sponsor. [Music]
Hi, I'm Lucas from Los Angeles. I've started doing some freelance writing focusing on tech and startup industries.
And I use chat GPT to help with my first drafts. However, as I start to work with more clients, I'm not sure how to handle client contracts. Do you have any advice? Specifically, I'm looking for guidance on what terms to include, how to handle revisions and how to protect my rights as a freelancer. Keep up the good work.
[Music]
Lucas, what's up, man? Thanks for listening. Thanks for calling in as well. You're definitely right to be thinking about these client contracts. They're essential for protecting both you and your client, but it doesn't have to be super complicated.
In fact, you're using chat GPT to work on your draft articles. AI can help you draft contracts as well. So first and foremost, your contract should clearly outline the scope of the work. Like here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna do this work.
There's a certain deadline. There's an agreed requirement. What is the outcome? Just clearly defining that stuff upfront is gonna help you avoid any misunderstandings later. Then of course, you wanna include payment terms, like when and how you're gonna get paid, whether you require an upfront deposit.
It's pretty normal to ask for 50% of the payment upfront, especially when working with new clients. But just generally speaking in freelance. You might also include an intellectual property clause. And this typically states that the rights to the work transfer to the client upon full payment. But if for some reason you wanna reserve the right to use the work in your portfolio or for something else, then just include that in the draft statement.
Lastly, you might want a termination clause that just outlines how either party can end the contract, any fees that might be involved with that. Most importantly, just know that contracts are meant to protect you to set clear expectations and then you don't have to worry about it so much. Nine times out of 10, maybe even many more times than that, hopefully. So there's some platforms like LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer, even Fiverr, where you can get some affordable legal services for just something really simple. Also, Freelancers Union.
They have contract templates that can give you a good starting point. So lots of resources there. We'll link it up on the notes page. Lucas, good luck. Listeners, good luck to you as well.
I'm cheering you on. If you've got a question or a comment or a suggestion, sidehustleschool.com/questions. You've got a new episode every day. You can listen on Spotify. You can listen on Apple Podcasts.
You can listen really wherever you want. Try to make it as easy as possible. I hope you'll continue to join in. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
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From the Onward Project.
