The importance of contracts

I currently am facing three situations that are either already extremely ugly or are about to become very ugly because of the lack of a contract or misinterpretation of a contract.

That being said, for situation 1 we made every effort to get as much down on paper in emails, but now it is coming down to different determinations and expectation based on the words. Now we are almost being blackmailed into a corner by someone that really has no hands in the specific dispute (though they are involved in the project). They have been fabulous to work with thus far and we look forward to working with them in the future but things have gotten very twisted and I am no longer sure what will happen. Oh and by the way, the idea of suing people, don’t even think of it as a backup option because the cost almost always out weighs the benefit for small claims, beside the fact that it immediately terminates any relationship left (no we did not do this but we had thought about it).

The other situations tie personal relationships into business relationships. For me, I don’t get tied up or hung up when there are differences in business relationships but I have a feeling that the way things may end up it may happen — this is not my wish, and I hope it works but I just really am not sure. Not getting ahead of my self but some would say that you never mix business and pleasure. I would disagree with this statement; it is fine to mix the two if you are able to be mature enough to separate yourself. Business decisions need to be made based on what is best for the business not what is best for the friendship. If you cannot be able to do that or be able to take that then you need to step away from the deal because it will only end in failure.

I will report back when these get resolved.