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Chelsea: How do I know when I should use a contract for booking?

So this one I thought was a really good question because I'm so happy to hear that henna artists are now talking more about the use of contracts. But, um, so I think it was really good for us to talk about like clarity on when a contract is needed and when it's not. In my business, I choose to use a contract for anything that requires an hourly rate of service.

So if I'm servicing a prenatal appointment, if I'm servicing a bridal appointment, if I'm servicing a party or a group of people, then in all of those instances I am going to be using a contract. If I have an appointment that's less than an hour long, then I don't worry about a contract. In that case, instead when they book -- because all of my booking is done online -- when they book, they receive a confirmation email that tells them the terms also of them reserving that service with me. So, you know, all of the information about late arrivals is included there and the information that they need to know about henna safety is included there and so forth. And so I don't worry about a contract in that case. That really for me is, is like the determining factor. Is this going to be so a situation where I'm going to be charging a total amount that's of an hour duration or more? In that case, yes, I want a contract. And if not, then I don't want a contract. At that point it's like it's kind of a moot point. It's done.

What I will say, however, is that the biggest piece about having a contract -- or wanting a contract -- for the smaller appointments is being sure that you aren't showing up to work and then that client bails and doesn't show up. And so in order to get around that, because I don't send a full contract to those appointments that are under an hour duration. Instead, what I do is I require payment, like prepayment in full upon booking. So in order to see me for less than an hour, you must be in full immediately. So at the time you put your name on my calendar, be it for 15 minutes or for 30 minutes or for 45 minutes you are paying in full right then. And so that for me takes away any opportunity for there to be upset if I were to show up to an appointment and then that person doesn't come. It's very rare for me to experience that. I'd say over the past almost nine years, I've only had three times that someone didn't show up having that system in place. But that's because they are paying in full. And even in those, those instances where they didn't show up, um, I was still compensated for the time that I was there. And so it makes it, it makes it, it makes it less of an affront, right?

So that's kind of my determining factor. If it goes over an hour of service, then I want a contract in place -- or I should say if it's an hour or more of service, not necessarily over an hour, but an hour or more, if it's even just that hour mark, I want a contract in place.