The life of a freelancer is a life of on-the-job-training. It will be (especially early on) a career of trial-and-error that will guarantee you moments of success, failure, and near-misses. But it's through those experiences that the freelancer gains valuable knowledge that will help to improve one's craft and one's business acumen.
I was a freelance video producer & director for over 10 years, and in that time I learned quite a bit about networking, developing business, maintaining client relationships, marketing, and so on. My biggest lessons were learned after I completed a project. I would look back and dissect it, analyzing what worked, what didn't, and what I needed to do to make sure the next project was even more efficient.
Here are the 3 things I learned to include in every contract before starting a project. These are by no means the only things I learned, but I think these items are essential to include in every video production contract.
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