I wrote these booklets

Konnichiwa! I’m back from my holiday in Japan and have been easing back into work. Gotta get that bread!

Today, I want to show off these booklets. Because they’re not any booklets, but booklets written by me for a client. And, they’re published in hard copy, which is a big thing for me because most of my stuff is published online.

So, behold.

These booklets are on the Tripartite Standard on Contracting with Self-Employed Persons (TS-SEP), which is a set of recommended practices that service buyers (which are the organisations that procure services, i.e. clients) in Singapore can follow when hiring self-employed persons (who are people who run their own business, like freelancers) for their services.

There are two different booklets because they’re written for self-employed persons and service buyers separately.

A big chunk of the TS-SEP covers essential terms to include in contracts between freelancers and clients. So, I thought I’d share these terms for you to consider having in your contracts.

If you need expert help with writing a contract, please consult a lawyer.

Your and your client’s names

This helps clarify who is involved in the project, especially if you’ll liaise with a specific person in the client organisation.

Your services

State the services you’ll provide so the client knows what they’ll get for their money. The contract can even mention the services you won’t be providing, to avoid doubt.

And if the client needs to do certain things so you can carry out your services (e.g. give you access to the website they’ve hired you to work on), the contract should mention these things too.

Payment

Include all the things that help you get paid! E.g.

• How much you should be paid
• When you’ll invoice for payment
• By when you should be paid
• How clients can pay you
• Any extra fees you’ll charge for situations like late payment or project cancellation

Variation and termination

Your contract can have terms about how you and the client can:

• Change (i.e. vary) the terms of the arrangement, or
• Cancel (i.e. terminate) the project entirely,

after both of you have signed the contract. Just in case either of you need to do this.

For instance, you might want to say how much advance notice you/the client needs to give to vary/terminate the contract, and whether the agreement to vary/terminate needs to be in writing.

Dispute resolution

The contract can also say what should happen if a dispute occurs during the project.

For example, how will you and your client try to resolve the dispute? Will you try to negotiate with each other or bring the matter to court?

This next bit is Singapore-specific: if you follow the TS-SEP, your contract should let both sides resolve the dispute via mediation and the Small Claims Tribunals.

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Once you and the client have agreed on the contract’s terms, put the terms in writing so you have a record of what was agreed on.

Also, keep your copy of the contract in a safe place for convenient future reference.

​Read more about the TS-SEP here.

And if you want to hear me talk about the TS-SEP in person, you can sign up for my workshops happening later this year. I’ll share more details closer to the date!​

More freelancer news

CPF 101

I’ve updated my blog post covering how CPF contributions work for Singapore freelancers.

In short:

• You must contribute to your Medisave if you earn more than $6,000/year
• Contributing to your Ordinary and Special Accounts is optional (there are pros and cons to doing this)

The above hasn’t changed since I published the post 7 years ago(!). But the CPF Board website has been revamped, some processes have been simplified (e.g. you no longer need to register yourself as a self-employed person with the CPF Board) and so on, so this overhaul was long overdue.

​Read the ✨ freshly updated ✨ blog post here.​