Pajama Top + Denim Skirt // 4 Reasons to Think Twice Before Signing a Contract
It’s become pretty common that brands will send over a contract outlining the collaboration details, regardless if you’re getting paid or not. I can’t stress it enough, read your contracts, ladies! I generally like having a contract since it outlines the exact requirements, but there have been multiple times where brands have snuck additional terms into the contract or listed completely unreasonable deadlines that were not pre-discussed. It’s tempting to just sign your name on the line, but hopefully the following stories will make you think twice.
After negotiating details with a company, they sent over the contract. We had agreed that I would publish 1 Instagram post for an extremely discounted rate. Apparently they wanted even more bang for their buck because they snuck a line in the contract stating that I would be required to place their website link in my bio for 3 days. Besides the fact that adding a link in your bio is generally its own fee, a lot of my traffic comes from Instagram and if I hadn’t read the contract, I would have lost out on all those clicks to my blog.
Needing to get approvals is definitely the most annoying part of the collaboration process. You hope that the company would simply trust you to post quality content since they chose to work with you, but sometimes they just want that guarantee. I totally get it, but make sure to read what the approval process means to the company. One company (who was not paying) wanted 3 flatlay options featuring their sunglasses. They also wanted to be able to request additional images if they so desired and have the final say on which photo to post. Know your worth. There is no way all that work is worth a $10 pair of sunglasses.
There have even been instances where a brand and I agreed that I would publish 1 Instagram post, but the contract said a completely different number.
I recently received a contract from a pretty popular publication to be a part of their influencer network. In our email communications, they only mentioned that this was an exciting opportunity where they would match me with brand collaborations. I’m in a bunch of networks, so I figured it would be a similar deal, but somewhere in the 5 page contract written in tiny letters, I read the exclusivity clause. Signing the contract would mean that for 6 months, I would not be allowed to work with or be featured by any other publications. So if Vogue wanted to feature me in their next issue, I would have to say, “No.” Not only that, but there was another little line about not being allowed to work with competitors for 6+ months following a brand collaboration. That means if they would connect me with a shampoo brand, that’s the last shampoo brand I’d be working with for the next half a year. Goodbye income. I would understand this level of exclusivity if they promised a certain amount of collaborations at a higher rate, but they were simply looking to sign influencers into their network and keep them exclusive to their company. Watch out, people.
OUTFIT BREAKDOWN:
Pajama Top: Luv It (c/o)
Denim Skirt: H&M
Black West 57th Schoolbag: Henri Bendel (c/o)
Black Studded Sandals: Ivanka Trump (c/o)
Photography: Trish of The Caffeinated Camera
Hair: Katie Murphy
xx Esther
