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Verbal contracts are worthless, despite the idyllic view of some. In many
cases, written contracts may be equally worthless, in that legal cost of
"enforcement" often exceed collected amount. After some 20 years of
practice, I realized the most important skill for a contractor is
pre-qualifying potential clients--deciding who will and will not pay.
The amount of work you do, the quality of the work you do, and the payment
negotiated are all irrelevant if you don't get paid. Does it make you
paranoid? Not at all. Just basic contracting skills. If someone doesn't want
to sign your contract, or spends a lot of time searching the fine print for
loopholes, or, conversely, is too eager to sign with only a cursory glance,
proceed with caution.
In the last 10 years or so, I have turned down about a dozen jobs, and only
lost payment on two. I wrote those off as "losing tickets" and went to the
next project without missing a beat. Instead of embroiling myself in legal
collections (that may not really work the way you think they do), I went
back to work. No remorse, no regrets, no paranoia. It is all part of the
business.
Thanks
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