verbal contracts

Subject: verbal contracts
From: "ASUE Tekwrytr" <tekwrytr -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 13:29:16 -0400


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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