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8feef7b8
Community Member

Do I need a contract for every gig?

I know this is probably covered somewhere but I can't find it. I am new to Upwork and have received my second gig. The first one went fine.

 

For the second one, we negotiated and the hiring entity sent me a document to edit and restated the agreed-upon rate. However, he never sent a contract. It seems to me that there should always be a contract, even if he just wants to do a one-up to try me out. Is that right? Or do I just do the job and then invoice him?  I'm a bit confused.

 

Thanks for your help in straightening a newbie out.

4 REPLIES 4
AndreaG
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Deirdre,

 

You're right, there should always be a contract! If your client needs ongoing work, you can leave the contract open and add milestones for each task or use an Hourly Contract instead. Having an active contract is the only way to invoice your clients and it's also key to qualify for Upwork's Payment Protection programs. You can read more about Fixed-Price Protection here and Hourly Protection here

I would also suggest checking out this Community board as it has many great articles to help you get started on Upwork.

 

Thanks!

~Andrea
Upwork
8feef7b8
Community Member

Thank you very much. That is exactly the information that I needed.

wescowley
Community Member

Deidre,

If you still have an open fixed-price contract, you can propose a new milestone that your client just needs to fund and approve. If your earlier contract is already closed, you can propose a new one for them to approve and fund. Both of these options are on the contract page form your first contract. Sending them the proposal can smooth the road a bit.

Thank you for the advice, which would be great except that we have not had a contract yet. Instead of a contract, he just sent me the document to edit and told me he would pay me. That seemed wonky to me but, being new, I thought maybe I missed something. Hopefully, I'll get to the point of renewing contracts sooner rather than later. 🙂

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