Heard a freelancer say 'I stopped sending contracts' and it hit me hard

I was grabbing coffee last Tuesday and overheard a guy at the next table telling his friend he quit using contracts for small projects under $500. Said it felt 'too formal' and scared people off. Then he mentioned a $400 logo job he did 3 months ago that still hasn't been paid. I counted it up in my head - that's 8 small jobs a year that could go sideways. It made me wonder how many of us are skipping basic protection just to seem friendly. Has anyone else run into this where being casual backfires on payments?

2 comments

2 Comments

logan27115d ago

Send a short agreement even on tiny jobs - a simple email saying "this is what I'll do and this is when you pay" takes 30 seconds and covers your back. Learned that one the hard way after doing $300 worth of work for a guy who just stopped replying.

troyc1715d agoMost Upvoted

Nah I used to be totally on that guy's side honestly. I thought contracts for like $200 jobs were just overkill and made me look like a corporate sellout. But then a client ghosted me after I finished a whole logo set and a brand guide for $350. That's when it clicked that being "chill" just means you're easy to take advantage of. Now I just send a super simple one pager that takes two minutes to fill out, and nobody's ever backed out because of it.