Do You Really Know What You Are Getting?

So many times in my life I have looked back on decisions that I have made and wondered why in the world I did that; or why didn't that turn out as great as I had planned it to? n Thankfully, the invention of 20/20 hindsight has helped many of us to figure out why the idea never worked out the way we planned. As I have thought about some of these events I have noticed that I am not the only one that these mistakes have ever happend to, and so with that I would like to share with you some pearls of wisdom that everyone who starts a new business or is currently running a business needs to know. That wisdom is "Why you need to have a contract."
I have titled this article "Do you really know what your are getting" because it seems that all too often we get into a situation, usually invovling another party, expecting one thing, and of course they interpret the agreement differently and expect another. I'm sure that has happend to many of you out there.
Allow me to tell a story or two of my experiences. When I started out as an entrepreneur I thought I knew it all and I didn't need anyone to tell me how to do things. I didn't believe written contracts were necessary because I still had this belief that people were still inherently good. (I was still young, what can I say.)
At any rate, one of the businesses I started required the use of a building for manufacturing our product. We had a close aquaintance that had a buildig and let us rent it from him at a reasonably low price and no signed contract. We didn't have any terms or conditions. So we believed that we could do anything we needed to, within reason, and within our ethical and moral boundaries, to make our business successful. Needless to say, when he came by he didn't approve of some of the equipment,(some heaters and shelves and molds) that were set up that were needed to manufacture our product, and it was not kept to a clean standard that he felt it should have been. n So we had a situation where we felt we were fine because there were no terms set forth, and he felt we were in violation, although there were no terms set forth. Who was at fault? I believe both parties becuase of the simple fact that there was no contract. The deal should never have happened.
This was just one instance where alot of headache could have been avoided and business could have gone on interrupted. n So allow me to urge you at this time, before you get into any situation with a business, or another individual, take the time to determine if a contract is in order. If there is any question in your mind, then you probably need one. Otherwise, you never really know what you are getting.