Like me when you download or sign up for something on the internet you do not take time to read the fine print. You scroll to the bottom and check off the box that says that you read it. You didn’t though and everything is fine until there is a problem. The problems may be minor, but may also result in a lack of privacy or your content being owned by another company.

If you treat your contracts with vendors or clients in the same way that you treat your online ones, then you could eventually affect your livelihood. Here are five tips when reading over a contract:

1. Money- how and when will you be paid?
2. Time- how long is the contract for?
3. Talk- if you talked about it, then it needs to be in the contract or it doesn’t exist.
4. Risk- what happens if you do not perform or the other party to the contract doesn’t perform?
5. Where- if you have to go to court (and you should think about alternative dispute resolution) then what state will it be in?

As always, you should have contracts reviewed by an attorney. At True North Business Consulting we create contracts and review them to fit your business needs.