Signed a contract at 2am and regretted it by morning

I was up late finishing a logo mockup for a potential gig and the guy messaged me saying he needed the contract signed 'right now' to lock in the rate. I skimmed it in my dark kitchen at 1:45am with my cat meowing at me and hit sign without reading the payment terms. Turns out it said net 90 days instead of net 15 which I usually ask for. I had to eat ramen for two months waiting on that check and now I set a rule against signing anything after midnight. Anyone else made a dumb late night contract mistake?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_riley17d ago

The whole "2am decision making" thing is scary real (I read somewhere that your brain basically functions like you're drunk after midnight). I've been there with freelance contracts where I agreed to a "full creative control" clause that let the client change stuff six times with no extra pay. Now I keep a checklist taped to my monitor with the three things I always check before signing: payment timeline, kill fee, and revision limits. Ramen for two months is brutal though, I admire your survival skills.

alext5217d ago

That checklist is a lifesaver. @the_riley the revision limit is the one I always forget until it's too late. I learned the hard way after a client asked for "just a few tweaks" that turned into seventeen rounds. Now I put a hard cap at three revisions in the contract with extra fees clearly listed.

dylan_ward17d ago

The "seventeen rounds" thing hits home, I had a client once where we hit twenty-three before I finally grew a spine and said no more.