Fractional CXOs need to work on many aspects of their work to have a sustainable business.

First of all, you need to be an expert in your field and know how to deliver results to your clients— working IN business.

However, building a fractional CXO business means learning (and using) the fundamentals of business; marketing yourself, finding leads, negotiating, closing— working ON business.

Those challenges and problems take most of your energy and focus throughout the day, but there’s one thing that sneaks into the workflow that can make or break your business— contracts.

There are a couple of things you should take notice of when it comes to contracts. Most creatives’ focus immediately goes to disputes regarding intellectual property, but there is one other element we need to talk about—  (unnecessary) contract clauses.

Why unnecessary contract clauses can limit your success

Let’s look at the following story that happened to one of our founders, Matt.

Before starting Hiper, Matt worked with SaaS startups. During that time, he wanted to work with other freelancers such as webflow designers, graphic designers, and content marketing/SEO writers. It wasn’t just freelancers— Matt also worked with fractional professionals for various roles and he himself worked as a fractional CMO. However, these companies would throw their standard contract agreements to both freelancers and fractionals. What was in those contracts?

• Non-compete clauses
• Net 30-60-90 pay terms
• Indemnification clauses

All of these terms were completely unacceptable for most creatives, including freelancers and fractionals and they wouldn’t sign these contracts (who could blame them). A freelancer who signs a non-compete clause limits their services to just the client that they currently work with. Most freelancers have multiple clients at the same time so this would be a problem for their businesses.

So Matt tried to find a way to work with these people even if they didn’t sign these contracts. He did so through freelance marketplaces, such as UpWork, paying ridiculously high fees to work with these freelancers.

Dealing with (legal) fees

Matt saw the problems in this system not only when he worked with other freelancers, but also when he worked as a fractional CMO. That’s why he tried to draft his own contracts through law firms because the standard ones from the companies were completely one-sided and were damaging fractionals. The contracts drafted through these legal firms were expensive ($1,000) and it took multiple back-and-forth with the client (and a bunch of redlining) to settle on a contract. So it took weeks and weeks to get the contract done and signed, delaying the project and losing precious time that could have been spent on delivering value to the client. On top of that, the legal fees can (and will) ramp up as well, causing your profit margin to decline once you pay for all the contracts and billable hours.

Because of all that, Matt decided to create Hiper and add features to it to make the process easier for fractionals. Now, Hiper’s a place where creatives, freelancers, and fractional executives can bypass all of this redlining and exuberant fees and simply focus on delivering the best possible work for their clients. With Hiper, signing an amicable contract with your client can take as little as five minutes. You simply invite your client to the platform where they sign a contract with a pre-determined scope of work for the role.

If you would pay an attorney just for the contracts, it would set you back more than $1,500 on the offset (at least $1,000 for the contract + $500 for the NDA). That’s not counting the redlining that would happen with the company and multiple back-and-forths (that would probably include additional legal fees).

Hiper offers all this as part of its free workforce workspace, which automates back-office tasks like dealing with contracts, invoices, and payouts for clients and talent. Our 10X value lies in our matchmaking service, which uses experienced specialists to efficiently pair founders and fractionals, all with no upfront costs."

Additionally, you’re getting contracts that are created by lawyers and are law-abiding, thus creating a sense of trust and professionalism. With that, you won’t have to question the validity of the contracts and you can use them with your clients, knowing that they’re professionally drafted and that they’re serving to protect your business.

Conclusion

With Hiper, not only do you save a hefty amount on the (unnecessary) fees, but you also get a contract that serves your needs. When signing a contract, it’s essential that you protect yourself and your business so you can keep providing great results for your clients for years to come. And with Hiper, you get those contracts for free (along with an NDA). So what are you waiting for; sign up for Hiper!