Why does nobody talk about the fact that 65% of freelance creatives have no written contract for their biggest clients?

Wren Bennett · 2026-10-01T11:40:04.08835+00:00

I was poking around a design pricing report from a freelance group based out of Chicago and it said 65% of creative pros have taken on a project worth over $5,000 with nothing signed. That floored me. I ran my own little poll in a design chat I'm in with about 40 people and 27 of them said they've done the same thing, including me. I once did a full brand package for a bakery for $7,500 on just a couple of texts back and forth, and when they wanted six extra rounds of logo changes I had zero ground to stand on. The weird part is nobody in that chat thought it was a big deal, like handshake deals are just how this world works. The report also said people who did have a simple one page agreement got paid about 3 weeks faster on average. So now I'm curious, do you all send something to sign before you start, or are you rolling the dice like the rest of us?

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Why does nobody talk about the fact that 65% of freelance creatives have no written contract for their biggest clients? | Creative Pros Network - Thought Shares