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Freelancing and self-employment is becoming increasingly popular a career choice for a lot of workers, across the world. From providing services to individual clients or working on projects for larger corporates, freelancers can prove to be better alternatives as compared to full-time hired employees, given their flexibility and skillsets.  

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However, just like with any working arrangements, both parties in such scenarios would need to protect their interests and themselves. To ensure completion and quality of work, both parties would need to utilize some tool that binds them to their word, especially if a timeframe and confidentiality are at stake.  

One such tool that can be used in such cases is a freelance contract agreement. This agreement is a legal document that entails information about the roles, responsibilities, fees, amongst other details for clients and the freelancer(s) they hire.  

Firstly, any relationship, be it personal or professional, requires immense trust to succeed. When you are not used to working with the other party on a regular basis, establishing and maintaining trust are a very important foundation of managing the professional relationship well. It is important for freelancers to feel comfortable with the clients/companies they are working with, more so given the fact that they more “temporary” than full-time employees. With a freelance contract agreement, freelancers will feel protected as the client will be showcasing that they will protect the freelancer's interest as well as intellect when they work together.  

Secondly, as freelancers or independent workers, it can sometimes get daunting to compare finances with full-time employees of the same clients/companies. In general, as a freelancer, your financial success will solely be in your hands. Signing a freelance contract agreement  will help you set your rates and have a set rate, in writing, so you can work knowing full well what has to be and will be paid. There will be fair compensation for the effort and knowledge put in, whilst the agreement will also make sure that the payment is completed on time, without any delays. The more you work in the industry and gain experience, the higher you will be able to charge for your time and skills.

Thirdly, signing a freelance contract agreement can provide an easier legal recourse as well as prevent the changes of legal disputes for freelancers. This goes both ways and will protect both you (as the freelancer), as well as the client. For example, if you have signed an agreement that outlines what and when you need to be paid for the work before you start work, but the client refuses to or does not comply, you can take legal action to seek any damage or remedy. This will ensure fair compensation as well as any other damage that you may incur as a result of the delay/refusal in payment. However, freelancers also need to be careful of fulfilling expectations and managing their time well. They too, need to finish all the work they are expected to do according to the contract and hand it in on time. They also have to keep the client’s necessary information confidential as well, because if that gets discloses to any third party, legal action may be taken against them similarly.

Besides that, freelance contract agreements can also be the first step for freelancers to protect their intellectual property and deliverables. They can discuss other sensitive information or confidential information of the freelancer as well as the client, in terms of a business collaboration, joint venture or an investment opportunity. In this situation it can be beneficial for both the freelancer and the corporate to sign non-disclosure agreements AKA NDAs in situations where they want to maintain the highest level of confidentiality and expect the same from the freelancer. Non-disclosure agreements are documents/contracts that are legally bound to prohibit the receiver from disclosing particular information to any third parties. A lot of NDAs are used to protect confidential information such as business details, intellectual property matters, and trade secrets. This could also include special research, future plans, or development strategies that are used by the company.  

When freelancers agree to sign NDAs, they are essentially agreeing to keep certain information, as clearly stated in the document itself, just to themselves. They are agreeing to not use or disclose that piece of information for their own benefit or anyone else’s whilst knowing that they can also have access to it during the duration when discussing the project scope for the client. On the other hand, the legal document can greatly benefit the independent worker/freelancer too. It can help protect the intellectual property and confidential information about the freelancer.  

Although freelancers may be nervous to sign agreements, they can prove to be a helpful tool in their journey. It can protect them and help build trust between the parties, making the entire working journey more fruitful.  

However, we get it... Creating and vetting agreements can be time consuming and nerve-wracking for many independent doers like you.  

But now it doesn’t have to be!  

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We now have a new contract feature just for our premium members... and you can easily create as many freelancer contract agreements and non-disclosure agreements as you want, just within seconds!  

So, dream, dare, do. With Doerscircle.