This morning, I read an article by Speider Schneider entitled, "Professional Practices They Don’t Teach You In Art School: Contracts – It’s Business!", that hit home.

I have been self-employed for eight years. During that time, my business has gone through its fair share of learning curves. In the past few years, those learning curves have been sharp, because my business is moving out of the freelance world into the small business realm, with larger projects, more overhead, expanded people resources—the works.

Unfortunately, as my business has become busier and more demanding, I have become more lax with my contracts and requesting deposits. I've ignored my own policy of requesting final payment before launching a website. I've been working on the honor system—not smart—and find myself financing client projects and trying to collect old debts—not good.

In the past couple of years, I've learned some hard lessons. I could look at my mistakes as failures, but instead, I view them as professional development. As a business owner, it is my job to figure out how to solve challenges and implement strategies to ensure problem areas are corrected—an extremely rewarding process.

Running a successful business—no matter how small—includes writing contracts, enforcing policies, and standing your ground to ensure people don't take advantage of you.

To read Speider's excellent article, click here.