🌱 Loui Mantia on contracts

Sometimes client companies will use terms like “standard” or “policy” to discourage you from feeling like what you want is valid. One thing I realized recently is that if the client company has “policies,” so can we.

Contract negotiation is maybe the hardest thing I have to do as a contractor. I try to remember that terms of agreement are mutually decided on. I shouldn’t feel bad for negotiating the terms I want, because the client doesn’t feel bad for negotiating for the terms they want.

Another industry “standard” that we often see is denial of portfolio rights. Clients’ terms exclude many of us from being able to show our work on our portfolio. Just like payment terms, the only reason these are “standard” is because enough of us aren’t pushing for them.