What happens to your teaching business when students don't pay or don't
pay on time? There aren't any rules unless you put them into place
yourself. Set the rules at the first meeting because a freelance
teacher's income is jeopardised when they are not paid on time, and
their bills cannot be paid. And that is why you should always set
payment rules from the outset. A regular income - a steady cash flow -
keeps your teaching business alive. Remember, 80 per cent of businesses
fail because they run out of money. Make sure you have a teaching
service contract detailing your payment policies: when students are
expected to pay and what happens when payment is late when customers sit
before you. Teaching service contracts secure a legally sound footing
for freelancers when making payment claims. It is their only legal and
binding proof a teaching payment agreement exists between them and their
students. In fact, should their relationship with one of their student
turn sour, and they need a lawyer, the first thing they will be asked
is: Do you have a contract? Contracts are simple reality checks to
decide whether freelancers can work with a customer. If both sides
respect the contract, they can work together. A lawyer is the best
person to guarantee a contract is made correctly. On the other hand,
they are expensive. For most teaching freelancers, a lawyer is a luxury
they cannot afford - so a self-made contract must suffice. A self-made
teaching service contract is better than none. If you have never
prepared a business contract before, you may be quite daunted by the
prospect of creating one. For example: § What details must be written
into contracts? § What elements are usually forgotten in agreements
(absenteeism, etc.)? § Situations when a lawyer must check the wording
in contracts For this purpose, freelancers can use a teaching service
agreement example as a basis for creating their own contracts. The
contract example presented is for educational
