Here’s what most business owners do (and maybe you have too).

You know you need contracts for your business, so you turn to your most trusted business advisor – Mr. Google.

You type in contracts for my small business….. And it looks like Google has a lot to say on this topic …. About 149,000,000 things to say actually.

You might download a few samples and borrow a few others from friends, then go about piecing them together to what looks like a legitimate contract. But:

• Are you sure it says what it needs to protect you?
• Do you even know what it means?
• Could you explain your contract to a client who had questions?
• If a client asked you to make changes to your contract, are you sure you’re not giving away important rights?
• Does it address the common pitfalls that come up in your business?
• Was it even written by a lawyer?
  
  

Probably not.

Working with a contract that you’ve pieced together from other samples is like driving a car with four mismatched tires. Your ride is always a bumpy one and you’ve got this nagging worry that you’re going to blow out a tire and get stranded on the side of the road.

But what’s scary is when it comes to the law and your business, not knowing something can have serious consequences.  Like lawsuits from unhappy clients, government fines and expensive lawyer fees. Maybe it’ll even cost you your dream business and your ticket to freedom from the 9 to 5. But these aren’t just urban myths that happen to imaginary people… It’s real.

In fact, according to a 2005 study by the Small Business Administration:

“Legal costs for actual litigation for small businesses ranged from $3,000 to $150,000. Most companies used business assets to pay the damages. … Owners mentioned that the payment of damages nearly put them out of business, which affected them for a long period of time as they worked to rebuild the business and recoup their losses.”

Scary stuff.

How do you know you have the RIGHT stuff in your contract?

Well, unless you’ve had your contract reviewed or drafted by a lawyer – you don’t.

But I know lawyers can be expensive – they charge about the price of a Kate Spade handbag just to talk to them – that’s anywhere from $250-350 – AN HOUR! Ouch.

The good news for you is that you don’t have to pay the high legal fees to get a solid contract. Rather, you can get the contract templates for a fraction of the cost by checking out one of the many Your Legal BFF contract templates available here!