The plain-English freelance contracts that protect you, without a lawyer's bill.
Curated, annotated, fill-in-the-blank client service agreements you can send today, built around the clauses that stop you getting stiffed or scope-crept. Start with the 7 that matter most. Free.
Free. 10 minutes. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
You do great work. Then the business of the work bites you.
If you have ever started a project on a handshake, one of these probably sounds familiar.
"I started on a handshake once. The client ghosted, I had no paper to stand on, and I never saw a dime."
"The free template online is so generic I rewrite half of it anyway, and I am still not sure which parts actually protect me."
"A $495 lawyer template, before the first invoice has even cleared? That is not happening."
The market hands you two bad options. There is a third one it hides.
The expensive template shops all build their contracts around the same short list of protections: a deposit, payment on delivery, a revision cap, a scope boundary, a kill fee, and IP that transfers only once you are paid. Those clauses are not secret. They are just buried in legalese and priced like a luxury.
SoloAdmin curates and annotates them in plain English. You see each clause next to a one-line note on exactly what it protects, fill in the brackets in about ten minutes, and send it the same afternoon. Cheaper and faster than a lawyer. More trustworthy and better-fitted than a free template you rewrite half of.
We have been the freelancer who skipped the contract, ate the loss, and swore never again. So we built the document we wish we had, and we tell you honestly where a lawyer should review it for your state. Protection, not a law degree.
Three steps from exposed to protected.
Pick the clauses that fit your work
Design, web, writing, consulting, social, or ongoing retainer. The protections that actually apply to how you get paid.
Fill the brackets in about ten minutes
Plain English, with a note on each clause explaining what it protects. No legalese, none of the jitters.
Send it, get it signed, clear the deposit
Start the work protected, looking like you have done this a hundred times.
A document, not a course. No upsell to watch a webinar. Here is exactly what lands in your inbox.
These clauses protect you. They do not make you a lawyer.
A good contract does most of its work before any dispute. It sets expectations, takes a deposit up front, and filters out the clients who were never going to pay. A client who refuses to sign a fair, plain agreement has just handed you the cheapest warning you will ever get.
What these clauses will not do is replace a lawyer’s review for your specific state or business, and we tell you exactly where that line is. We sell protection and a professional document. We never claim paper alone wins every fight.
We are also new, and we will not pretend otherwise. There are no testimonials on this page because we would rather show you the actual protection than quote a stranger. So here is the honest ladder, side by side:
- Free templates and ChatGPT ($0): everywhere, generic, and you rewrite half of it anyway. No notes on what protects you.
- SoloAdmin ($7, or the 7 clauses free): curated, annotated, plain-English, fill-in-the-blank, send today. No subscription.
- Lawyer template shops ($97 to $495 each): trustworthy and thorough, and out of reach before your first invoice clears.
Read the seven clauses free and decide for yourself whether the curation is worth seven dollars. If the full pack does not save you time, reply and we will make it right.
What you get when you enter your email
The 7 Clauses That Protect You, a plain-English freelance-agreement skeleton, each clause annotated with why it matters:
- Deposit clause — money in hand before you start, so a no-show client costs you nothing.
- Payment-on-delivery clause — payment tied to your delivery, not the client’s mood or a vague “approval.”
- Revision cap — a set number of rounds, so “just one more tweak” stops being unlimited unpaid work.
- Scope boundary — what is in, what is out, in writing, so scope creep has somewhere to stop.
- Kill fee — you get paid for work done if the client walks away mid-project.
- IP-on-payment clause — the client owns the work only once they have paid in full.
- Late fee — a clear cost for paying late, so “I’ll get to it” gets a deadline.
It is free, it takes about ten minutes to use, and it lands in your inbox the moment you enter your email. When you want the whole thing, the full Freelance Contract Pack (a master agreement plus six service-specific versions) is $7.
Before you enter your email
A contract won't help if the client just decides not to pay, right?
Free templates are everywhere. Why pay anything?
Is a cheap, DIY contract actually safe?
Shouldn't I just have a lawyer do it?
I find contracts boring and intimidating. Is this full of legalese?
Do I have to buy anything?
Stop starting projects on a handshake.
Ten minutes from now you can have a professional, protective contract ready for your next client. Scope agreed. Deposit due before you start. And you looking like you have done this a hundred times.
Or you can keep using the generic free template, rewriting half of it, and hoping the next client is not the one who ghosts you.
Seven clauses that protect you, or another project on a handshake. Your call.