We are officially in week 3 of our new series “Building a Lifestyle Brand in Jamaica”!
As you can tell by today’s topic, we will be talking about Contracts and other Paper Work. Creating a Lifestyle Brand is all fun and games and a ton of work, and you will need to have a few things in place in order to ensure things are protected.
If this is something you are interested in learning more about, keep reading!
What is a Contract?
A contract is a legally binding agreement that defines and governs the rights and duties between or among its parties. A contract is legally enforceable when it meets the requirements of applicable law. A contract typically involves the exchange of goods, services, money, or a promise of any of those.
The Contract Protects you and other individuals and ensures that whatever is agreed to is done and if not, then, based on the elements of said Contract, things can be enforced by law. If somebody signed and agreed to doing something, they are legally obligated to do so by law.
Building a Lifestyle Brand in Jamaica: Contracts + Other Paper Work
Starting out, I did not have Contracts but as things started to progress, I got a Contract for everything! One of the most important things we created for the brand was what I called a “Photographer Contract”. This unique agreement saw me as an agent who earned 30% from all jobs while the Photographer got 70% since they did all the work. This was something we both agreed on that we felt was fair and we both benefited. Apart from the Blog side, we have a business side that includes Photography and at that time we did Real Estate and Editorial Photoshoots. There were Contracts for all the individuals I worked with and whether I provided a service to them or they provided a service to me. As your business starts to grow, things will start to get more technical and you want to ensure you are protected. There have been so many times when I would get jobs and individuals would not turn over the work even though they were paid! A Contract protected me from all those people and allowed me peace of mind.
There are generic Contracts you can find Online where you can easily download and customise or you can also use the services of a Lawyer to draft up an official Contract.
Other Documents You Will Need
Standard Operation Procedures
A standard operating procedure (SOP) is an official document with detailed instructions that outline how to perform a specific task.
Organisations use it to help their staff do consistent work. This helps to give individuals a clear outline of their job descriptions, roles and all the tasks they have to accomplish on a daily and monthly basis. Think of it as somewhat of a guide of how the company operates and how all the systems and services that have been put into place work for both employee and employer.
Writing Guidelines
These are somewhat similar to SOPs, however they are verbatim and help to guide Writers and Guest Post Writers on the site to have an understanding of the type of content we cover and accept on the website. A large part of this brand has to do with Content Creation and Content Marketing so it makes sense to have a guide for writers.
Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
A non-disclosure agreement is a legally binding contract that establishes a confidential relationship. The party or parties signing the agreement agree that sensitive information they may obtain will not be made available to any others. An NDA may also be referred to as a confidentiality agreement. This document is great for privacy, it protects you and any project or product you are working on. There are some people who love to talk and share information they don’t need to be sharing so this is a good way to control privacy.
Standard Email
Here at Haute People, we have a standard way in which we send and respond to emails and all we do is tweak the body a bit so it’s suited for the receiver or brand. This is just a great way to expedite processes especially if you get an overflow of emails on a daily basis. What you can do is create a standard email for some of your most requested items. For example, this can be ” Email for Guest Post Writers”, “Email for Sponsors”, “Email for Photoshoots” and so on.
Once you are aware of all the documents you need, it’s great to have them in a centralised and easily accessible place like Google Drive, I Cloud and you can also create a branded folder and save them there. As your brand starts to grow and even initially, it’s best to set up systems and processes to make things easier and flow smoother.
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#Building a Lifestyle Brand in Jamaica: Contracts + Other Paper Work
#Building a Lifestyle Brand in Jamaica: Contracts + Other Paper Work
#Building a Lifestyle Brand in Jamaica: Contracts + Other Paper Work
#Building a Lifestyle Brand in Jamaica: Contracts + Other Paper Work
