Contracts are great
for outlining expectations.
It forces parties to talk
about the details.
That often clears up
misunderstandings.
Unless you have
a lot of money for lawyers,
contracts are almost impossible
to enforce.
I had a publisher
who hadn’t paid me royalties
for 18 months.
That was a clear breach of contract.
A buddy in the same situation
tried to enforce her contract.
She paid thousands of dollars
for lawyers,
much more than she was owed,
only to have the publisher pay her
two days before the court case.
Then the publisher stopped
paying her again.
Unethical people will ignore contracts.
Ethical people don’t really need contracts.
Stephen Dubner,
Co-Author of
Freakonomics,
shares*
“A better model for me
has been to just
partner with people
I think are
smart and honest and decent.”
If you need a contract
to ensure your partner does
what she says she’ll do,
you have the wrong partner.
*December 2017
Entrepreneur [Magazine]