We’ve put together a number of resources to help you with this question. First off is our in-depth blog post titled “I’m new to business, what legal agreements do I need?” We recommend starting with that post.

We’ve also created full pages with contract recommendations for each of the most common types of business owners who shop their legal contracts with us. Please click the link below for contact recommendations relevant to your industry!

 • Website Designer Contract Recommendations

 • Graphic or Brand Designer Contract Recommendations

 • Virtual Assistant Contract Recommendations

 • Digital Marketer Contract Recommendations

 • Copywriter Contract Recommendations

 • Photographers Contract Recommendations

 • Calligrapher or Stationer Contract Recommendations

 • Wedding Professional Contract Recommendations

 • Health Coach Contract Recommendations

If you after reading the blog post or browsing the page for your industry you still have a question about which contract(s) might be a good fit for you, you can always explain your specific situation to our team and we can make recommendations to you from there!

For the convenience of our clients, our lead attorney Paige Hulse started drafting contracts in a slightly different way than most: She broke it into halves. Generally speaking, the first “half” contains the business terms, meaning you can go to town customizing this portion of the contract yourself. The “second half”? That’s where the “legal terms” are housed- these are the bits we recommend you leave as-is, or customize them with the help of a qualified attorney.

Each product page for our templates includes a thorough list of exactly what topics & sections is included in that specific contract. Other than that, here is what you can generally expect in one of the templates:

• Intro paragraphs, so we know who the parties are, the effective date, and the purpose of the agreement

• ALL of your payment and price terms (including payment schedules, timelines, refund policies deliverables, shipping and more)

• A complete list of your services (when I say complete, I mean truly complete)

• Pesky provisions you may need but aren’t sure how to word, like confidentiality, exclusivity, creative license, and more)

• Intellectual property terms, such as who owns what’s created (plus options for scenarios arising in the future)

• Paragraphs that may be awkward to talk about, such as cancellations, reschedules, no-shows, etc.

• And all of those “legal” paragraphs that only experience in a courtroom can teach you to look for, like remedies, warranties, limitation of liability, employment status of the parties, Force Majeure, and more than 10 others.

After our shops lead attorney Paige Hulse spent years working as a litigator in a contract-heavy industry, she takes great pride in the integrity of the work she produces.

Each template is drafted by an attorney, peer-reviewed and then reviewed by an industry professional with at least 3 years of industry experience. Your template will contain provisions that only experience in the courtroom can teach, in addition to “business provisions” that only years of experience as an industry professional can bring.

Upon purchasing, you’ll receive access to a PDF instruction guide and access to your Podia account, where your contract template will live.

Inside Podia is also where you will have lifetime access to updated versions of your template. Simply log into Podia when you’re looking for the latest version of your purchased template, be that 6 months or 6 years from now to download the latest copy of your template.

Here’s a tutorial showing you what to expect once you make your purchase, including how to access your templates and the lifetime updates as well as how to upload & edit your template in Google Docs.

You can also watch this video below the FAQ section.

This is a 2-part process, you will first upload your purchased template into your Google Drive account, then you will open the document (so Google can convert the document), then you can save and edit the document. We’ve created a blog post and video tutorial to help you do just this! Please browse through the post and video tutorial for guidance.

The template license is only for your use, however, if you are an owner in the business (not just the website, designer, contractor, employee, or partner itself), then you can use the license within the businesses you own. You cannot sell, distribute or share these with your clients or websites you manage in which you are not the business owner (meaning each business will need its own license). Individual businesses will need to purchase their own license, which also means they'll receive lifetime updates on the template too!

We also have an affiliate program for past purchasers if you work with clients who will need their own templates - you can recommend the contracts to them, they can purchase their own access to the templates at a discount using your coupon code, and you can earn a commission in the process.

All of our templates come with lifetime updates! You can access your lifetime updates in the portal here, which will allow you to download any updated versions of templates after purchasing. If you haven't logged in before you can log in here using the email address you originally purchased your contracts with. If you've changed your email address after logging in, you'll need to log in with the email address you changed to after logging in.

You may find a tutorial on accessing lifetime updates to your template here.

Our attorney reviews these templates at least annually or at a major event (i.e. COVID-19), but updates are at her sole and exclusive discretion and we cannot guarantee updates or timelines to your specific template(s).

When there are changes or updates, they will be reflected automatically within your portal. Changes are generally identified in the new template, but it is your responsibility to check your own portal.

It is not the responsibility of The Creative Law Shop® to notify users of any changes or updates. That being said, major changes will be announced via our newsletter. You must be subscribed and remain subscribed to our list in order to receive updates, and we are not responsible for any emails that you did not see or that did not make it into your inbox. You can make sure you’re subscribed by going here.

The email address you used upon initial purchase will be your account portal login. Once you are logged into your account, you are able to edit the email address. If this is your first time logging in (or if you're not sure if you have an account), you can go here to log into your portal.

You will need to reach out to our team via the contact form to assist. You will need to provide all your portal email addresses, your purchases, and let us know which email address you would prefer your products to be migrated to. We may require further verification before your merger can be completed. Please note, we cannot issue refunds or partial refunds even if you discover you have multiple portal accounts.

While each of the Creative Law Shop® templates comes with directions, we completely understand that you may have further questions! However, we operate our business with ethics, integrity, and compliance with the industry’s laws above all else. We will not be dispensing legal advice. If you are not sure what is a “legal” question, our team will let you know what we can assist with and what you need to ask an attorney in your state. The need for the Creative Law Shop®, in general, arose because our founder Paige Hulse knew, from personal experience owning a calligraphy business, that there can be a disconnect between creative/wedding professionals, and attorneys (most attorneys still aren’t quite sure what creatives “do”!). If you have state-specific questions about your contract, we encourage you to reach out to an attorney in your state.

Based upon the bar's ethical considerations we cannot dispense legal advice via email or other forms of communication in the template shop.

Our shop attorney Paige Hulse also runs her own law firm however where she takes clients on 1:1 for custom legal work. In her practice she often helps clients with the following:

• Due Diligence Searches

• Trademark Registrations

• Business Services (Formations, Restructurings and more)

• Business & Estate Planning

If you are interested in one of the aforementioned services, please reach out to Paige Hulse Law here!

Our shop attorney Paige Hulse also runs her own law firm where she takes clients on 1:1 for custom legal work, including registering for a trademark. Please reach out to Paige Hulse Law here!

Paige Hulse is a licensed attorney in Oklahoma, and is not ethically permitted to speak to laws in other states or countries.

From Paige, “However, what I do tell customers from around the country is that while I can't speak to the specifications of your laws, I can tell you that starting with a template for an attorney in your jurisdiction to review will be much quicker (i.e. cheaper) than having that attorney start from scratch with drafting a custom contract. In addition, the templates are drafted in conjunction with a professional in each respective industry (i.e., a wedding planner for the wedding planning contract, etc), so the templates have more industry-specific provisions than a lawyer unfamiliar with your creative industry could draft.”

We have quite a number of non-US residents purchase from the shop! We have happy customers who use our templates in their businesses in Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Germany, France, Ireland, Sweden, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Turkey, El Salvador and the Philippines!

Great question, and that's something only you can answer for yourself. We recognize that while we think every business owner should consult with an attorney (or know who they would turn to with tough questions), sometimes, when you're just starting out, that's not exactly a feasible option. We will always recommend that you have a local attorney you can turn to, and while you certainly aren't required to reach out to him/her prior to using your template, we want to encourage you to do so at some point.

Due to the nature of digital products, all sales are final. We do not accept returns or credits for discounts that have been valid in the past.

Unfortunately we cannot issue refunds, partial refunds, or honor past sale prices. We always recommend you join the newsletter to be notified early of future sales.

Unfortunately we cannot issue refunds or partial refunds. We always recommend you log into your portal before completing your purchase to make sure you're not buying something you already own!

One of our core values as a business is to operate with integrity and to provide products that allow others to do the same. We believe that in order to share about our contracts truthfully, affiliates must have used a contract template themselves. With that in mind, we are pleased to offer membership into our affiliate program exclusively to past customers of the Shop who have purchased contract templates, so that you can be rewarded for spreading the word about our business! You can apply to join the affiliate program here.

This is a tough one to answer in general terms, but you must think of your business in three areas: client relationships, business fundamentals, and online legality. The Legal Foundations E-Book is the best place to start!

If you have a website, you need a privacy policy and a terms & conditions. Here’s why.

If you are starting your business from the ground up, you should be forming an LLC. If you have an LLC, you absolutely need to have an operating agreement. View the single member and multi-member option. Here’s why. As a note; if you don’t have a one, a judge could do something called “pierce the corporate veil”, which would render your LLC useless. You don’t want that.

Finally, if you deal with ANY client in any capacity, you need a contract. For example, if you’re a photographer, you need to have a photography contract. Even if you just sell online products- you need to have an online terms and conditions of sale.

We also recommend reading our in-depth blog post titled “I’m new to business, what legal agreements do I need?” as that gives much more detail to all the contracts & templates we’ve mentioned thus-far.

Typically, we recommend starting with The Legal Fundamentals of Hiring E-Book.

For starters, who are you hiring? If you are hiring an intern, you will need either an intern or extern agreement. (You may also find an in-depth guide to creating an internship & externship program on our blog.)

Hiring a VA or Contractor? You’ll need a Virtual Assistant Agreement or Independent Contractor Agreement.

Hiring an employee? You will need an Employment Agreement.

Each of these templates contains a confidentiality provision, but if you want additional nondisclosure/non-compete language, you may also need the NDA template.

Your website terms and conditions is the document that you should keep on your website at all times- this is the contract that governs visitors’ use of the Site. On the other hand, your Terms & Conditions of Sale is a document you need if you are making online sales. This is the contract that governs the transaction with your customer and will list terms such as your return policy, risk of loss, etc.

Overall, the independent contractor agreement template is the most flexible agreement in our template shop; you will need to do the legwork on editing the agreement to fit the client and situation you're working on together, but that is typically the most adaptable agreement since you are likely to be an independent contractor in most situations.

However, if there is industry-specific lingo that you need (i.e. a florist needs the rights for floral substitutions should the flower be out of season or arrive in the wrong color), then you will probably prefer one of the more industry-based templates. You can peruse our templates here.

Recently, we added additional provisions to the shop so if you have multiple offerings (i.e. a calligrapher that also provides graphic design services), you can access the industry-specific language without buying an entirely new agreement; saving you time and money! Access the add-on provisions here.

The Calligraphy Agreement Template is designed if you provide any sort of calligraphy in your business. It contains a few provisions in addition to what the Stationery Agreement Template contains (such as liability in post offices' ability to read calligraphed envelopes; risk of loss in installing any large pieces like seating charts, language regarding the fact that calligraphy is done by hand, and no two envelopes would be exactly the same, etc).

The Stationery Agreement Template was designed for a business owner who had a more typography-based business, meaning the business owner primarily prints off typed envelopes, etc rather than calligraphing them.

The Graphic Design Agreement template was designed for a business owner who does more branding and design, without providing prints.

Out of these 3 agreement templates, there is industry-specific language and scenarios, but you should only need 1, not all 3, of these options depending on your needs.