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Might as well start with the one I was talking about yesterday, the employer who doesn't want you or him to use a contract is generally out to steal from you. Even if he isn't out to extort his workers you guys can run into too many miscommunications without atleast one contract. So let's say you've got your little contract saying this is how many times you'll correct the same video and you won't post it to the web but you will do this limited number of special effects and the employer says 'hey were all friends here, we don't need any contracts, I'll take good care of you' or whatever. And then you're like 'I just want to make sure everything's clear between us let's have a contract set up ok?' and then he acts offended and says 'I'm not going to steal from you I promise, were going to talk a lot, nothing will be lost in translation, just trust me alright?' that's a HUGE red flag and you should probably look elsewhere when they utter something to that effect. But if you wanna keep going with it (and you still can successfully) just say 'Hey this isn't for me, I trust you, it's for you so you have something to refer to if I step out of line. You hardly know me yet so this is just some standard reassurance for you. Plus this is the contract I do for everyone and it's worked great so far, I hope we communicate a lot, this is just solid grounding for us to work off of.' If he/she blabbers any more after that than it truly is time to go. Ok second red flag is too many promises about how much more you'll earn in the future. When an employer couples bad news, let's say; 'hey I can't pay you for this extra work, you messed it up you've gotta fix it.' with this good sounding news; 'I work with some pretty big names in the business, if you keep making quality stuff I can probably hook you up and you'll be making twice as much later on'. Then that's a minor red flag; in all honesty it only turns into a red flag if you hear it every gosh darn time you come in. Or he tells you; 'not to complain about my recent change to your contract demanding that I can't pay you outside of my tight budget so you've gotta finish this one for free and be more efficient in the future' because 'before you know it you'll be getting jobs left and right because I'll put your name out if you do well'. The third red flag is generally something you'll only run into with small start up business or personal callouts in classifieds. That's them asking you to do something outside of your contract and often outside of your area of expertise. Things like working on the website or figuring out other parts of his/her business. Lots of small employers do this so it's not really a red flag unless you react wrong. Don't offer to help, you can offer suggestions or advice but make it very clear you don't know how to because it's outside of your expertise and it's not in your contract. If they nag you about it further, or they blame you for whatever aspect of business not going correctly because you wouldn't work on it or your suggestions led to bad results then it's a red flag and you need to take action. Immediately explain to them that you're not an expert and they'll have to look elsewhere to find help on that but you'll be happy to keep doing video stuff within the bounds of your contract. Again if it continues then it may be time to go. Ok those are the three big ones, I'll add more at the end of future blogs as I come across them or can think of one's I've run into. overall just watch out! make a contract and stick to it, send in regular invoices before the end of the month (or fortnight depending on how much you produce) and then if they aren't returned in time STOP WORKING till they are. Make sure your employer knows everything you've done (written in the invoice) and keep good positive communication with them often. You should be ok.
