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Episode 98: Contracts and Handling Difficult Client Situations
181 Plays4 years ago
Today's guest is Magi Fisher, The Artists' Lawyer of Magifisher.com, where you can find legal resources for your creative business. Magi joins me for a conversation on contracts and difficult client situations, specifically we're covering a few tough client situations that can be avoided or dealt with using a well-crafted contract.
Before we get started, a quick disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and the information shared during this episode are for informational purposes only and not for the purposes of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem you're facing. And while Magi is a lawyer, she's not your lawyer.
For the show notes, go to https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-magi-fischer-episode-98/
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Transcript
Understanding Cancellation Agreements
00:00:05
Speaker
You're going to want to issue a cancellation agreement which states that
00:00:11
Speaker
you're both releasing each other from the rest of the contract so the photographer or the vendor is no longer liable for holding that date and the client is no longer responsible for the payment schedule if there's any future payments and then you're going to just want to make a note too that the retainer is non-refundable or any monies that have been paid if they're non-refundable that that's part of the contract.
Introduction to 'Brands at Book Show' and Legal Resources
00:00:40
Speaker
Welcome to the Brands at Book Show, where we help creative, service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davy Jones.
00:00:51
Speaker
Today's guest is Maggie Fisher, the artist lawyer of Maggie Fisher.com, where you can find legal resources for your creative business. Maggie joins me for a conversation on contracts and difficult client situations. Specifically, we're covering a few tough client situations that can be avoided or dealt with using a well crafted contract.
00:01:12
Speaker
Before we get started, a quick disclaimer. I am not a lawyer and the information shared during this episode are for informational purposes only and not for the purposes of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem you're facing. And while Maggie is a lawyer, she's not your lawyer.
Audience Engagement and Feedback
00:01:31
Speaker
Be sure to check out the show notes at daveyandchrista.com for the resources we mentioned during the episode. And I want to hear from you. Let me know what kind of content you'd like to see on the BransoBook podcast as we move forward. To leave your feedback, head on over to the Davey and Christa Facebook page and send us a message. You can also DM us on Instagram at daveyandchrista.
Impact of COVID-19 on Event Contracts
00:01:49
Speaker
Now, onto the episode.
00:01:57
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of the brands that book podcast. I'm here with attorney Maggie Fisher, not just attorney Maggie Fisher photographer Maggie Fisher as well. So we're going to dive into, you know, all sorts of things law today though. So that's the side of her business that we're focusing on today. I'm excited to have you here Maggie, because I know that there's a lot of questions, legal questions in particular around
00:02:19
Speaker
what's going on with COVID-19 and the pandemic and the impact that that has had on the events industry in particular. So welcome and thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. Yeah, thanks for having me.
00:02:32
Speaker
So we should just dive right in because I know we have quite a bit to chat about, but I don't want to skip over your story as an entrepreneur and hear a little bit about your background. And I think what's maybe so convenient about the, especially your attorney's hat.
00:02:49
Speaker
is that you're speaking also from the perspective of a photographer and somebody who's in the events industry and so really understands this industry apart from what's going on with the pandemic and stuff like that. So tell us a little bit about your background and how you got started.
Maggie Fisher's Dual Career Journey
00:03:08
Speaker
Sure. Thank you. So I started photography when I was in high school, just like a lot of photographers out there. It was very, it was a natural progression. It was something that I loved, but it was never, you know, the
00:03:23
Speaker
End goal for me, I always planned on going to law school. I had done mock trial in high school and then political science in college. So I always knew that law was going to be my path. At the same time, it was like I was living two parallel lives.
00:03:41
Speaker
just both sides kind of took off at the same time. So, you know, I was going through college and law school and I was consistently shooting 25, 30 weddings a year while, you know, throughout law school, I'm studying, I'm studying for finals and taking time off to travel and shoot weddings during study breaks. It was just this very
00:04:04
Speaker
weird dynamic where I had my feet in both worlds and I was able to naturally progress with both of them for a long time. But it came to a point about a year ago where I had to make a decision what road I was going to go down. I had had an opportunity to go to a large law firm and
00:04:25
Speaker
It was the dream law firm. It was like the dream opportunity. I was super excited to have an offer from this firm, but they wanted to know from me that if there was going to be a big case on that they needed help with on a weekend and I had a wedding that I had to shoot.
00:04:41
Speaker
they wanted to know if I would have an associate cover it. And we know in the wedding world, you can't just pass off a wedding to an associate. So I had to make a decision to go full time with my business.
Legal and Photography Ventures
00:04:53
Speaker
And that was about a year ago. And from there, I just, I passed the bar. I was a full time, a bar attorney at the time. So I decided to form the artist lawyer and just kind of marry my two crafts together.
00:05:08
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And just so for so people know kind of where to find both of these things, you have two separate websites for these two different sides of your business. And are they two different businesses? Yeah, so I have them separated out right now, just because I don't think my wedding clients want to see the legal stuff that I do. Sure, sure. So where can people find your wedding photography business? Where can people find the, you know, the stuff you're doing with law and contracts?
00:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, so wedding website and wedding company is Magdalena Studios, and you can find all of the contract templates and legal resources on theartistslawyer.com.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah. Awesome. And I think that's a good segue into talking about some of these contracts
Event Rescheduling Challenges
00:05:51
Speaker
in general. And I imagine, you know, you passing the bar, it comes at the perfect time because now people in the events industry in particular face with all sorts of different issues. And I know that it's been a headache for a lot of people. You know, I mean, everybody's had to reschedule probably at least one event in 2020, if not multiple events. And there's all sorts of things that come with that because it's not
00:06:13
Speaker
you know, as we found out, I think in the beginning, there was just like this, well, okay, we'll reschedule for the fall and it'll be fine. But, you know, we have these phased recovery programs in each state. And, you know, I know some states already allowing weddings, let's say under 300 people, I think I saw that in
00:06:31
Speaker
Ohio. I think I saw one of the northeastern states say under 250, but a lot of states haven't moved in that direction yet. And so now the question becomes, okay, I've rescheduled, I might be able to have my wedding, but now I won't be able to have the same amount of people at my wedding. And so, you know, clients might be like, hey, I'm only going to be able to have a 10 person wedding. Can we renegotiate the contract? You know, there's just a lot of questions around, you know, how to navigate this while protecting our businesses and then also serving our clients well.
00:06:59
Speaker
So I guess we should start at the beginning maybe with rescheduling.
Handling Contract Rescheduling
00:07:05
Speaker
Before we jump in there, I just want to emphasize that this podcast is for educational purposes only. I am not an attorney. Maggie is an attorney, not your attorney. So I think that's just good to mention before we get... Perfectly said.
00:07:20
Speaker
Yeah, before we get into discussing this stuff, and if you have specific questions, I would encourage you to reach out to Maggie or to reach out to your attorney to clarify anything that you might hear during this episode. But let's start with rescheduling. What do people need to have in place? What are the considerations around rescheduling when it comes to somebody's contract?
00:07:45
Speaker
So you're going to want to look at your contracts specifically with the client that wants to reschedule. A lot of people are updating their contracts now post COVID and instituting rescheduling fees or different policies around rescheduling. But when it comes to rescheduling for each individual client, you're going to want to go by what your current contract says. A lot of contracts.
00:08:10
Speaker
pre-COVID did not have rescheduling policies. I've seen a lot of contracts that only really talk about cancellation. There's no mention of rescheduling fees. So it becomes a tricky
00:08:23
Speaker
scenario when vendors start imposing fees for rescheduling or making up these different rules for their clients when it's not in their contract. So you're going to want to really take a look at what your current contracts state for each individual client.
00:08:43
Speaker
Sure. So if somebody wants to reschedule, or we've come to a point where they have to reschedule for whatever reason, there's not a rescheduling clause in their contract, both the client and the vendor agree on a given date, what needs to happen to let's say move that date or to reschedule the event?
00:09:03
Speaker
Yeah.
Issuing New Contracts Post-Rescheduling
00:09:04
Speaker
So once you find, um, I feel like the trickiest part is finding a mutually available date with the client and how I've seen it work best as if the client checks in and comes back with the dates and then the vendors can all kind of come together and figure out which date works best for everybody altogether. Usually the client will navigate that and, you know, check in with each vendor and pinpoint what date will work.
00:09:29
Speaker
Once that mutually available date is decided on, you're going to want to either issue a new contract or amend that previous contract to the new date. What I found is best is if you have updated your terms and conditions, which is a regular business practice, it's totally normal to update your terms and conditions and reissue that to the client if they're resigning, you're going to want to send them your new and updated contract.
00:09:57
Speaker
which is gonna hopefully have cancellation and rescheduling policies and everything a little bit more clear for both the client's best interest and for the vendors because you're not gonna want any ambiguity in there if they have to reschedule for a second or third time like we're now seeing. So you can issue them that new contract and then just issue a credit for any amount that have previously been paid.
00:10:21
Speaker
Okay, awesome. And as far as, and I like what you said there is it's not unusual for companies to revisit their terms and conditions. I'm sure everybody for every SaaS product that they're signed up for every year gets some sort of notification that terms and conditions have been updated.
00:10:40
Speaker
So I think sometimes we overthink like, oh, we're going to send a new contract over to people and it's really going to weird out our client. But I think that communicating with them on the front end about that, it's probably more normal and less of an issue than we anticipate. Definitely.
00:10:57
Speaker
You know, one question along the lines of rescheduling is whether if you agree on a new date, but you're not shooting it any longer, maybe one of your associates is now shooting it. So you actually have a change of photographer. Do you go through those same steps where you're issuing a new contract, you're just stating that it's a different photographer from your team that's going to be shooting the wedding? Yeah. So you're almost like taking, when you're renegotiating with the client, you're almost taking what they've paid as a credit and
00:11:25
Speaker
Depending on what the scope of the new project is if there's a different photographer a different date a different venue even like a different. Collection like i've had clients upgrade or renegotiate you know trying to split up their package across multiple dates.
00:11:42
Speaker
you're gonna wanna just issue that entirely new contract to them and then they can agree to, you know, that new photographer, the scope of the project, and you're just taking what they've previously paid and issuing that as a credit. And you can kind of, normally you would have, you know, your payment schedule breakdown and what the final payment is, but underneath of that you can put amount of credit that's being transferred from the old contract, the balance that's due,
00:12:08
Speaker
And it's pretty standard in contracts at the end that it will say this is the final agreement it supersedes and voids any previous agreement but you can just re-emphasize that at the top. I like to add a little note up at the top that says this wedding has been rescheduled the previous date is released and it just kind of reiterates that again.
00:12:28
Speaker
Okay, awesome. What about with cancellations?
Contract Cancellations and Payment Status
00:12:31
Speaker
Because I'm sure there's a number of situations out there where, you know, everybody's trying to reschedule. I'm sure a lot of people earlier in the year are just trying to get dates later in the year. So they're competing with people who are already getting married later in the year. So it's probably on some level difficult to match up schedules right now. What steps does somebody need to take in order to cancel a contract?
00:12:51
Speaker
So cancellation is usually where things get a little bit trickier because clients normally don't see that the businesses have held these dates for them and have this expectation of business and have maybe made investments or preparations for this business that they're expecting to have. So if a client decides
00:13:14
Speaker
as some clients have that, you know, they don't want to keep rescheduling. They just want to cancel going in a different direction or maybe not have the wedding altogether. You're going to want to issue a cancellation agreement, which states that
00:13:29
Speaker
You're both releasing each other from the rest of the contract. So the photographer or the vendor is no longer liable for holding that date. And the client is no longer responsible for the payment schedule, if there's any future payments. And then you're going to just want to make a note too that the retainer is non-refundable or any monies that have been paid, if they're non-refundable, that that's part of the contract.
00:13:54
Speaker
Awesome, and so I assume that's probably a pretty important aspect of a cancellation agreement is having the what's happened to the payment that's currently been made, right? So that's something that you would definitely want in that cancellation agreement.
00:14:09
Speaker
And maybe we can talk through maybe a few different scenarios when it comes to cancellation. I think that one of the, I guess, this unprecedented situation that we're facing, right? It's not as if brides and grooms, it's not as if couples are saying, just arbitrarily, we're going to switch dates, you know? We don't like March 30th anymore. We want to reschedule for, you know, September 30th.
00:14:32
Speaker
So, how does that work when it comes to things like deposits and retainers? Are vendors in general, and again, I know that people need to check with their specific states and laws and attorneys, but in general, are vendors, I guess, is it their right to keep monies paid, especially if that's how it's currently written in their contract?
00:14:53
Speaker
Or because of the Act of God clause, do they really need to consider returning that money if they can't find a new date? Yeah. So again, I'm going to come down to the specific contract that the client and the vendor have formed together.
00:15:14
Speaker
I've seen all kinds of contracts, some that it would warrant a refund in certain circumstances. It's going to come down to if the client has actually been forced to move their date or if they're moving it preemptively. If they're moving a March 2021 date right now, they can't really cite to an act of God or anything that's forcing them to move their date. So you're really just, you're going to want to look at that individual contract with an attorney.
00:15:41
Speaker
have somebody else give an opinion of how it reads and how it will be interpreted. But if you have a really strong contract that states you have a non-refundable retainer, even in an active God scenario, and if the vendor is attempting to cure performance of the contract, so they're offering availability, they're offering solutions. If there's not a date that works, they're offering a credit for another type of session. If they're trying to work with the client,
00:16:11
Speaker
there's a good reason there for the vendor to be able to keep that retainer at that point if the client's been forced to move their date. Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like it's such a tricky situation. And this is a good segue into talking about refund requests and what to do with refund requests. Because on one level, there is the law. There is what was agreed to in
Balancing Legal Rights and Reputation
00:16:33
Speaker
the contract. On another level, though, there's a reputation to keep in mind.
00:16:39
Speaker
and certain circumstances probably the best thing to do in maybe certain situations is to give the person a refund for whatever reason that might be. So I think a tricky line to walk between, okay, how much do I want to enforce my contract to the letter of the law?
00:16:58
Speaker
you know, so that I've not walked all over. And at the same time, what should I do long term or what decisions should I make that are going to be long term best for my business, keep my reputation intact as well, do the right thing for my client? Do you have any advice when it comes to just managing refund requests in general, but maybe from a business owner perspective, but then also from a legal perspective as well?
00:17:22
Speaker
Yeah, this is where it gets really sticky and icky with clients because especially right now, businesses, it puts a business in a really difficult situation because businesses don't have their usual income coming in and some businesses might not be able to offer a refund right now.
00:17:45
Speaker
If it comes to that with the client, you're gonna want to try to meet in the middle somewhere so the client's happy. If your contract allows you to keep that retainer or those monies that have been paid, you're gonna wanna try to cite to the contract and say, you know, the payment's not refundable, but we can do X, Y, and Z. I have seen a lot of situations where clients are threatening legal action, and even though the contract
00:18:14
Speaker
would hold up if the vendor wanted to keep that retainer. It's not really something that any vendor wants to deal with. You don't want to have to go to court. You don't want a client to be that angry with you to continue to pursue this for months and months. So if there's any way to meet that client in the middle, maybe a partial refund, maybe some sort of credit,
00:18:37
Speaker
maybe some sort of justification for letting them know why you have to keep that retainer. You're going to want to try to meet them in the middle and try to come up with some sort of solution that works for everybody. Sure. And speaking of credits, because I think one thing I've heard of is, okay, we can't find a new date. I'm going to keep your retainer. But you can use this credit towards another type of session with me. So is that something that would be outlined in the cancellation agreement?
00:19:06
Speaker
Yeah. So if you come up to that with that kind of resolution with the client, then you could certainly put that in the cancellation agreement or the, you know, rescheduling agreement that there is this credit that has been issued and you're going to want to make sure there's parameters around that. So when can they use that? Are they going to check with you for availability? How far in advance do they have to let you know, um, rather than just saying like, Oh, Hey, I want to do my session next week. I'm going to be in town.
00:19:34
Speaker
So you're going to want to just make sure all of that's outlined. Does it expire at any point in time? All those kinds of things. Yeah. And that's, I mean, that's another really good point just as far as like when that credit can be used. I know that gift cards has been sort of a popular offering throughout this time, you know, just to try to keep some revenue flowing in and give people an opportunity to book an open date, so to speak, for a session in the future.
00:19:56
Speaker
But interestingly, this past week even, I saw an acquaintance of mine post and her business is no longer active and it had nothing to do with the pandemic. It's been closed down for some time now, but somebody who she had given a gift card to or sold a gift card to wanted to cash in that gift card after eight years. Oh my gosh.
00:20:18
Speaker
Having something and yeah, it's a ridiculous request, right? Like, I'm pretty sure if I had a Target gift card or something like that, I wouldn't be able to use it after eight years. But having something in writing about, you know, hey, this is the timeframe that this has to be used, I think is certainly beneficial.
00:20:33
Speaker
And it's, you know, it's difficult thinking through all these different situations that might arise. I mean, again, if you had asked 100 people, you know, whether they thought we were going to be dealing with a pandemic in 2020, that was going to completely shut down the events industry in the world, right? My guess is that none of them would have said, yeah, yeah, that's likely. So, or been really even on anybody's radar.
00:20:56
Speaker
All right, so refund requests. Two things that I would love to talk about because we've brought it up a little bit as we've chatted is renegotiating the contract and how you should go about doing that. I think that this ties back into even the cancellation clause because I could potentially see scenarios where the photographer is like, hey, I can't work on the date that you want to get married on now.
00:21:20
Speaker
And the client just not like almost not taking no for an answer, you know, and not being able to get the client to sign the cancellation agreement, especially if maybe you're keeping a retainer and the client doesn't feel that that's fair. So where do you go from there? What tips do you have for renegotiating contracts with clients, especially around maybe sticky situations? Yeah.
Renegotiating Contracts During Disputes
00:21:44
Speaker
I mean, there's definitely been a lot of this lately and it's hard for everyone. The client, it's hard for the clients to understand where the vendor is coming from. It's, you know, the vendors lose sleep over, you know, we're used to making our clients happy. We don't want to be fighting with them and then, you know, to have, have these requests and to be met with like aggression and disappointment. It's, it's hard on everyone involved. So I think just.
00:22:12
Speaker
My first piece of advice usually to everyone is to take a breather, take a step back. You do not need to come up with a resolution immediately. When you get that email in, you don't need to respond right away. I think it's really good to take a step back, go for a walk, sleep on it, even for a couple of days. You don't have to respond right away, unless the wedding is that weekend and there is some urgency to it. But sometimes that cooling off period will help both parties involved.
00:22:41
Speaker
and you can come back to it with a level head before responding. I think it's good to utilize your resources. So if that client is canceling with you, but maybe you're in contact with other vendors who are scheduled for their wedding day or you frequently work at that venue, maybe reaching out to some of those other vendors and seeing what they're doing. I have dealt with a couple situations recently where
00:23:09
Speaker
The client was canceling with the photographer actually cuz they wanted to go with another kind of style and they hadn't canceled any other vendor or venue so that's kind of a different situation that's a change of heart the clients not canceling because of covid or you know any other reason they're actually going with another type of vendor so.
00:23:29
Speaker
Just kind of trying to utilize your resources, maybe seeing what other resolutions the other vendors have come to, or touching base with your community and seeing how they've responded to these kinds of requests. And just talking through it with people that you trust and feel comfortable with, that can help work through some of those issues at first.
00:23:53
Speaker
And then when you do talk to that client, sometimes emails and contracts can come off really harshly. So I always advise that you're going to want to formulate what your boundaries are before you get on a phone call, because a lot of us are people pleasers. We're going to cave on the phone. We're going to want to say what the client wants to hear, or we're going to be put in kind of an awkward position.
00:24:16
Speaker
But if you can maybe list and think through what your boundaries are before getting on a phone call or a video call with a client.
00:24:24
Speaker
So at that point, once you come up with your boundaries and what you want to stick to, maybe you want to shoot for no refund or a partial refund, and you don't want to go any lower than, say, a $1,000 refund, kind of come up with that in your head or write down what best case scenario would be, what worst case scenario would be, where you'd be willing to compromise, and then get on a call with them.
00:24:49
Speaker
and let them talk. Sometimes clients just want to be heard. They want to know that they want you to know that this is a difficult time for them.
00:24:59
Speaker
something more difficult is going on and they just want to be heard. And maybe you have to explain why for your business, you have this policy, you know, where you might have already invested that money, for example, insurance, or you might have already paid taxes, or you might have done a venue walkthrough, or if you're a florist, you might have already put in an order for those flowers and the ribbons.
00:25:23
Speaker
So if you can get on the phone with them or a video call and just have more of like a human connection with them and try to work through it, sometimes that can be really helpful.
00:25:32
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I always find that calls are, especially if you can get on them before things escalate, a great way to keep things from escalating, right? I think that it's, you know, over maybe less personal forms of communication, like email, that things can be more misconstrued. I mean, I think email is great because you always want some sort of written record, especially I think as you decide things with clients. So, you know, I don't know how you feel about, maybe it's a little over the top, but
00:25:58
Speaker
If I were to have a discussion like that with a client, I would send an email afterwards just kind of recapping what we chatted about just so that we can always go back to that written record. But I do think getting on a phone call, especially letting people talk, sometimes it's not even about the issue that you think you're arguing about. It's something else. And like you said, they just want to be heard. So I think that's great advice just from a client experience perspective as well.
Common Contract Issues
00:26:26
Speaker
So we've covered a lot of the COVID-19 pandemic related clauses. I think those are the things that are top of mind for everybody right now. Is there anything else that you think is just good practice to have in a contract? Maybe it's something that you frequently feel like people have to come back to. So for instance, I guess what is one of the most common non-pandemic related
00:26:56
Speaker
contract clauses that people find themselves having to come back to. Yeah. I think a lot of photographers have to come back to editing requests. Maybe you don't include Photoshop or maybe you have a style provision in there that defines what your style is,
00:27:19
Speaker
Some photographers might get requests and videographers as well to come back and re-edit something. And maybe you have a certain number of re-edits that you'll do. And the same kind of thing comes out with albums as well. So I feel like I hear a lot of photographers sometimes have to say to the contract and say, you know, well, you had six months to get back to us about your album design and now it's expired. So, you know, there might be some sort of fee for, you know, if you have this album credit.
00:27:49
Speaker
photographers usually don't want to have that outstanding for years and years. Cost might increase. So usually those sort of niche little things with photographers, travel and reimbursement and travel warranty is something that's really important. If you find yourself traveling often, you're going to want to make sure that
00:28:10
Speaker
If you don't get travel insurance, you're going to want to make sure that's in your contract and that you have some sort of warranty about travel delays. Are you using a flat rate travel fee or is there going to be something in there about all sorts of reimbursements? If you have to check multiple bags, like if you're a florist and you have
00:28:29
Speaker
tons of products that you're bringing to a destination wedding. Will the client be billed for all of those individual costs or are you offering a flat rate travel fee? Those are just some niche little things with the wedding industry that I've found are important in contract.
00:28:47
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. As far as people getting their contracts in order, what recommendations do you have for them doing so?
Using Attorney-Drafted Templates
00:28:54
Speaker
You can find all sorts of free contracts online. Is that something you would recommend doing? Also recognizing that especially as people get started, they don't feel like they have a ton of money to invest in a contract being developed by a lawyer.
00:29:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you're definitely going to want to start with a contract template. If you go to a standard local attorney, chances are it's going to cost thousands of dollars to have them custom draft you a contract. And if they don't have experience in the wedding industry or in the creative world, they might not really understand all the protections that you need. So I would definitely recommend going to some sort of lawyer creative
00:29:38
Speaker
for your contract templates. There's tons of places to get them online. I've seen photographers sell them in marketplaces like Etsy. But I would definitely recommend going for a contract that has been drafted by an attorney and is being sold by an attorney because they're going to be held ethically to a different standard. They're going to want to make sure everything's up to date and everything is pretty crystal clear.
00:30:06
Speaker
seen a lot of contracts lately that have been bought from marketplaces and they're just a little bit more shaky than the ones that you'll probably find from those attorneys online.
00:30:19
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And I'll say the money that you will save, I mean, it's going to be an investment upfront, even a couple hundred dollars for a contract template. Yes, that's an investment. I'm not saying that it's not hard spending that money. At the same time, the money that you're going to save, the peace of mind that you're going to have,
00:30:38
Speaker
potentially dodging a lawsuit or heading off a lawsuit of some sort down the road, I think makes it well worth it. I think that and accounting, you know, like if you're starting a new business especially, or if you've been running a business for a while and you've just kind of been using something that's been pieced together. If you've been doing your own books, you know, like to me, trust the people who are trained to do these things.
00:30:59
Speaker
you know, because they're going to do it right. And if something goes wrong, then at least you have somebody to go back to and say, okay, I need to, you know, I need to better understand, you know, how to how to deal with this when this when this clause has been, you know, breached or whatever this situation arises.
00:31:16
Speaker
or the IRS comes knocking and they want XYZ or they're saying XYZ. So I'm a big believer that those two things should be in place and just a peace of mind not having to think about those things then going forward, priceless to me, priceless to me. Yeah, definitely. And I fully believe that
00:31:36
Speaker
You know, a well drafted contract will foster a healthy client relationship as well. So it's not just for protecting the business, but I like for our contracts to read almost as like an FAQ or manual and.
00:31:49
Speaker
use the client if they do read it or if they just kind of have that document set aside. It's very thorough for them to just know what to expect, what procedures will take place, if they do have anything come up. There's all kinds of details in there that will help them and guide them in preparing for their wedding day as well.
00:32:11
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And that's probably the most important thing for sure. And I love that. You know, that's what you put kind of at the, the outset of a contract is just, you know, laying out expectations clearly for, for clients and making sure that everybody's on the, on the same page. And, you know, really at the, at the end of the day, I guess that that's what it's about. Right. So as we wrap up here, can you remind people where they can go and get a contract from you?
00:32:36
Speaker
Yeah, if you head to our website, The Artist Lawyer, you can find all of our contract templates. We have master contract templates for all types of wedding vendors.
00:32:47
Speaker
We have rescheduling and cancellation agreements and a COVID liability waiver. If you're starting to get back into shooting events and you're a little bit nervous about it, that liability waiver is great right now. And then I also offer consultations and custom contracts and startup packages as well. If you're starting your business and
00:33:06
Speaker
It's been really fun during quarantine i've worked with a computer brewer and along your list all kinds of different artists and create a few are launching their businesses are just you know need help with lf ease and trademarks and all that fun stuff.
00:33:21
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And it's awesome that you should provide consultations as well because one thing that we do probably on a yearly or semi yearly basis is have the attorney we work with go back and review kind of the stuff that we have using and just kind of bringing up any sort of situations that may have arisen in the last year or so where we're like, hey, should we have a clause or just one of the clauses in our contract currently cover something like this?
00:33:46
Speaker
So definitely something that might be worth doing if you feel relatively comfortable with your contract, but just think it needs maybe a little bit of attention. Maggie, I really appreciate you taking the time, especially in this season, to share your expertise. And Maggie has mentioned where you can find her contract templates and her resources. I will also make sure to post those in the show notes as well so that if you're driving, if you're working out right now and you remember where to find those things, you can just go to the show notes. Thanks for your time.
00:34:16
Speaker
Thanks for having me. Thanks for tuning in to the Brands That Book Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review in iTunes. For show notes and other resources, head on over to devianchrista.com.
00:34:39
Speaker
you