Last fall, I hired the splendid Allie Towers Rice of Allie Creative to redesign my website.

We had gone through the usual introductory conversations about the project – what I needed, how she would approach it, etc. – and were both enthusiastic to begin. But before we could start, there was the matter of … The Agreement.

I hesitated to ask about it. I mean, what if this service provider, who seemed to very professional in every other way and I was totally crushing on, didn’t use contracts? What would I do? Could I write one of my own? Would I walk away? (Because at least by that point I was smart enough to know that it’s really not smart to have your site redesigned without something in writing. I was not always this smart.)

So I screwed up my courage and asked. And of course Allie had a contract. One of the best I’ve ever read, in fact. Completely thorough, yet written in plain English with a human (and humorous) voice and entirely understandable. Phew.

Turns out she had hesitated to send it to me because so often new clients kinda freeze when they get the contract.

“They see the C-word and don’t even read the document, they just panic. And that’s a shame, because it’s not all legal jargon-ey.”

It becomes the elephant in the room that stifles all the enthusiastic energy that’s been flowing around the project up until that point. And what designer (or client) wants that?

We both strongly believe in the necessity of having contracts. They clarify the important things that need to be clarified. They support and protect everyone involved, including the project. They ensure everyone comes away from the experience feeling good about it.

Done right, agreements help all that enthusiastic energy swirling around a project flow even more freely and purposefully.

Yet we hesitated when it came time to discuss our agreement because of our previous interactions with people who were very uncomfortable with the role of legal matters in business.

We had a laugh about our mutual hesitation. But it also left me a little sad.

If the role of legal matters in business was less feared and better understood in general, we both would have been spared some needless worry.

Our anxiety was very temporary, but what made me even more sad was knowing that fear and worry is a regular thing for many people – on both sides of the C-word.

Beyond the wasted energy, avoiding this stuff makes things very muddy. And leaves your work and your livelihood vulnerable.

I know it may seem kinda sleazy, but I can confidently say from experience: getting a handle on this legal stuff is very empowering. You get clear. You get stable. You get flow.

Once you’ve figured out how everything is going to go down, you can relax and get into the work knowing you, your business and the people you work with are being taken care of.

As with everything else I talk about, this is part of creating systems and structures that support you in doing your best work.

I think we are afraid bringing “law” into our businesses will ruin the good thing we’ve got going on. But just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it has to be incomprehensible, aggressive or assume the worst – and scare people away. In fact, legal systems and structures that reflect and embody our personality and values are an essential part of protecting and supporting the very things that are most important to us.

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