5 Contract Mistakes That Bankrupt Freelancers (And How to Fix Them)

As a freelancer, your contract is your shield. Yet, most freelancers treat it like a formality—copy-pasting generic templates they found online five years ago.

This laziness is expensive. Here are the top 5 mistakes we see in freelance contracts:

1. Vague Scope Definitions

"Website Design" is not a scope. "Design and development of a 5-page marketing site in Webflow with 2 rounds of revisions" is a scope. Ambiguity breeds scope creep.

2. No "Kill Fee"

What happens if the client cancels halfway through? Without a cancellation clause (or kill fee), you might be left with weeks of unpaid work.

3. Buried Payment Terms

Don't hide your payment terms in paragraph 14. Make them front and center. Better yet, integrate them into the signing flow so the deposit is required to start work.

The Narrative Approach

At SignDeck, we believe contracts shouldn't be scary walls of text. They should be part of the story you tell your client—a "Narrative Stack" that explains what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we will work together.