In most cases, your website terms and conditions will be the first legal document that you create for your business. They are the foundation on which everything else is built.  Website T&C are required under Australian Consumer law, but many people feel that their only choice is an ugly one-size-fits-no-one template or jarring jargon that sounds nothing like the voice of their business. Those misaligned legals hang off your beautiful website like an alien appendage. It feels icky and a bit nasty, but you hang onto them because they supposedly keep you safe... you hope.

How much more effective would that safety be if you understood every word, had total ownership of all your important policies, and used your legals to connect with, call in and care for your ideal clients?

This Website Terms & Conditions DIY Pack includes your full disclaimer, intellectual property protection, your appointment policy, refund policy and consumer guarantees, as well as all the information that your website visitors need to know about working with you or buying from you online.

If you are selling goods or services via a website in Australia, then under Australian Consumer Law, you need to have your refund policy clearly available. This DIY Pack will help you satisfy that requirement as well as assisting you to create a policy that is internally aligned (so you are comfortable with it) and externally aligned (so it fits with the way you do business and makes sense to your clients.)

Website T&Cs are usually linked in the footer of your website. You can scroll down and check mine out, if you like. It was written using this DIY Pack

Your Privacy Policy tells people how you deal with the sensitive and personal information that they entrust to you. It is especially important if your work involves clients sharing information with you that is not in the public domain - information that they would not normally share with anyone outside a relationship of trust.

If you are a health service provider of any type - including unregistered providers such as massage therapists, kinesiologists, health coaches, naturopaths, nutritionists (and more) - or work in any way that involves people sharing sensitive information about their health and well-being with you, then a privacy policy is required under the Australian Privacy Principles.

No matter what your business, whether you are required to have a privacy policy, or whether you would voluntarily like one to ensure you are efficiently and effectively protecting your clients information, this DIY Pack will help you create what you need. It will also assist you with basic GDPR compliance and mandatory data breach reporting if you are an Australian business without many European clients. (If you market your work to those in the EU, this Privacy Policy may not be comprehensive enough for you.)

Your Privacy Policy is usually linked in the footer of your website. You can scroll down and check mine out if you like - it was written using this DIY Pack.

Client Service Agreements are essential contracts for any service provider, but you don’t always need a big one with all of the bells and whistles.

This Client Service Agreement is best suited to low cost or short term client service work, where the client is not investing a lot of time or money in your services. It can also be a good choice for service providers who are in the start up phase, still clarifying what they offer and who are not ready to invest in a more specialised contract at this stage. It will educate your client about how you work, set the boundaries between what is their responsibility and what is yours, provide them with your policies about refunds and cancellations, protect your intellectual property, and set up a method of alternative dispute resolution so if problems arise they don't start yelling about taking you to court.

Any DIY Pack agreement can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of sale, or provided for your clients to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

A coaching agreement is useful for anyone providing 1:1 coaching to clients, regardless of your modality or the subject of your coaching. It provides both you and your client with clarity and certainty around how you work, sets your boundaries, and manages expectations. It does all the things a basic Client Service Agreement does, but goes into more detail. It also provides more protective sections around managing liability and confidentiality, for example.

This agreement is especially important if your client is investing a lot of time or money in your services. It can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of sale, or provided for your clients to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

Any DIY Pack agreement can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of sale, or provided for your clients to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

This Doula Client Service Agreement DIY Pack has been designed with the assistance of Julia Jones from Newborn Mothers, an experienced doula and trainer. It is useful for anyone providing non-medical support services during pregnancy, labour or postpartum, regardless of your focus or speciality. It provides both you and your client with clarity and certainty around how you work, sets your boundaries, and manages expectations. It contains all of the basics from the Client Service Agreement, including disclaimers, payment terms, dispute resolution, refunds and much much more.

This agreement is especially important if your client is investing a lot of time or money in your services, or where there is increased risk to your clients if something goes wrong. For lower priced services where less risk is involved, a Client Service Agreement may be sufficient. It provides a shorter, less detailed alternative but is more generic, where this DIY Pack is specifically created for doulas.

Any DIY Pack agreement can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of sale, or provided for your clients to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

A Healer Agreement is useful for anyone providing health and wellbeing consultations and treatment to clients, regardless of your modality. It works for both spiritual and physical healers. While it is designed particularly for the needs of natural health care practitioners, it can also be used by more traditional or mainstream healers. It provides both you and your client with clarity and certainty around how you work, sets your boundaries, and manages expectations. It contains all of the basics from the Client Service Agreement, including disclaimers, payment terms, dispute resolution, refunds and much much more.

This DIY Pack also guides you to consider important issues raised by the National Code of Practice for Unregistered Health Service Practitioners prompting you to form policies for your business that are aligned with ethical best practice.

This agreement is especially important if your client is investing a lot of time or money in your services, or where there is increased risk to your clients if something goes wrong. For lower priced services where less risk is involved, a Client Service Agreement may be sufficient. It provides a shorter, less detailed alternative and does not cover the Code of Practice.

Any DIY Pack agreement can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of sale, or provided for your clients to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

A VA Agreement is useful for Virtual Assistants, Online Business Managers, Copywriters, Social Media Managers and anyone who provides administrative or creative services for clients. It provides both you and your client with clarity and certainty around how you work, sets your boundaries, and manages expectations. It contains all of the basics from the Client Service Agreement, including disclaimers, payment terms, dispute resolution, refunds and much much more.

I have developed this DIY Pack over more than 5 years of reviewing and editing contracts for VAs and advising on disputes, client complaints and misunderstandings. I have poured more than 50 hours of research, development and testing into creating it - not only does it contain all the questions you need to ask yourself in order to effectively manage your client relationships, I have also provided example wording from previous contracts I have drafted, so you are not starting from scratch. You can include ALL the questions to create a really thorough, comprehensive contract, or I have marked the non-negotiable "must include" clauses if you want to trim it back, creating a simple contract to give your clients while still using the detailed questions to create your important policies and boundaries and ensure you have thought about everything that you and your clients might need to know.

This agreement is especially important if your client is investing a lot of time or money in your services, or where there is increased risk to your clients if something goes wrong. For lower priced services where less risk is involved, a Client Service Agreement may be sufficient. It provides a shorter, less detailed alternative and does not cover the specific needs of VAs - everything from intellectual property ownership to scope creep, from clear instructions to cybersecurity.

Any DIY Pack agreement can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of sale, or provided for your clients to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

A web design agreement is useful for anyone providing website design or maintenance services to clients. It provides both you and your client with clarity and certainty around how and when you work, sets the scope of the project and your boundaries, and manages expectations. It helps you work out intellectual property ownership, as well as including all of the basics from the Client Service Agreement, such as payment terms, dispute resolution and so on.

This agreement is especially important if your client is investing a lot of time or money in your services. It can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of sale, or provided for your clients to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

Any DIY Pack agreement can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of sale, or provided for your clients to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

Workshop Terms of Participation are useful for anyone offering workshops, short courses or paid challenges. This Workshop Agreement is best suited to low cost or short term group work, where the participants are not investing a lot of time or money. It can also be a good choice for workshops or courses that are in the pilot phase, while you are still clarifying the demand for this work and are not ready to invest in a full contract at this stage.

This Contract gives your participants clarity around what to expect when they sign up, so they know exactly what they are getting. It also educates them around your expectations, and sets up all your basic legal policies, such as disclaimers, payment terms, refund policies and dispute resolution.

Any DIY Pack agreement can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of sale, or provided for your clients to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

A subscription membership can be a valuable way to provide content to your ideal clients. However, with a long-running relationship such as this it is important to manage expectations and set your boundaries to ensure everything runs smoothly.

A membership site agreement is useful for anyone providing specialised content to members in return for a one-off, regular or annual payment. It provides both you and your members with clarity and certainty around what they will receive from you. This agreement is especially important if your members will be investing a lot of time or money in your services.

As with all DIY Pack Contracts, it can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of sale, or provided for your members to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

A Confidentiality or Non-Disclosure Agreement is useful for anyone entering into discussions where sensitive information about their business will be shared. This Confidentiality Agreement may be adapted for unilateral discussions (where only you are sharing confidential information) or mutual discussions (such as collaborations where both sides are sharing information). It can be a good choice when you are feeling out whether you are a good fit to enter into a working relationship with the other party and are not ready to invest in a full contract at this stage - but you still want to keep your information safe.

This Agreement gives everyone clarity around what information is considered confidential, and what they need to do to protect it. It also educates everyone involved about the circumstances under which information can be shared, and sets up consequences if information is shared without permission.

This Confidentiality Agreement can be adapted as a click-wrap agreement at the point of booking, or provided for your potential collaborators to sign, either in person, by email or using an electronic signature service provider.

My DIY Packs have been prepared by analyzing a wide range of contracts and legal precedents, distilling out the most important content and reducing it to questions that you can answer in your own words. By completing the fillable PDF Worksheet, you answer all of the questions that a lawyer would generally ask you when taking instructions to prepare your contract for you.

You also receive a Blank Draft doc which guides you through setting up the document with your branding and entering the answers from your Worksheet. The aim is to end up with a beautifully crafted legal document written in the loving language that your clients expect and deserve from you. Because you have written it yourself, you have ownership over the process and are empowered to tweak your document as needed over time, so it stays a living document that you can adapt to meet the changing needs of your business.

The DIY Pack is NOT suitable for you if your business is complex or where there are high stakes involved. That means where people are trusting you with a lot of money or where your products or service pose a significant risk to their well being. It is also not suitable if you are not proficient at writing marketing copy for your business. In those situations, you might prefer to consider my Done for You or VIP services. My DIY Packs are also designed for Australian businesses. If you are not running an Australian business, they may not be suitable for your needs.

Payment for the DIY Packs is required upfront. You are purchasing them as a product rather than a legal service. Please make sure that you read and understand the Terms of Purchase linked on every DIY Pack and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Every purchase of a DIY document, includes a free 1 hour Accountability Action Session. This is a co-working session for you to use when you need it, so I can hold your hand, answer your questions, and help you get your legals off your to-do list and out into the world. More information about the Accountability Action Session can be found below.

To be totally honest, I don't know. I don't know because I have not seen your final document, discussed your business with you or had any part in preparing the final document.

Having said that, I do know that your DIY Legal Document is going to provide you with more protection than a generic template that you found on the internet or borrowed from someone else, because:

1. You wrote it! It is specifically tailored to your unique business and you have put thought and care into every word of it.
2. You have read it! Many people who have generic template contracts - or even contracts prepared by a lawyer - don't have a clue what their legal documents say.
3. You understand it! You know exactly what is in your legal document and what every word in it means.
4. You have ownership of it! Because you prepared it and know it inside out, you are not going to be scared of tweaking it over time when you find things that aren't working for you or as your products or services change. We are entrepreneurs - our services grow and develop - we need legal documents that can evolve and pivot with our business. I recommend revisiting your legal document every 3 months to make sure it is still relevant and serving your needs. This just means reading through it and making sure there are no changes you want to make. You will still have your Worksheet, so if big changes have occurred, you can go back and remind yourself of what questions you answered to create your legals and answer them for your current situation.
5. Your clients will read and understand it! How important is that?!? Your legal document may be the make or break for someone who is considering working with you. Do you want your clients, visitors and potential clients to feel held and cared for, or for their eyes to glaze over as they wonder why they are bothering to find out this important information about how you work.

I have put as much thought, skill and care into creating these DIY Packs as I can. I use them myself when drafting legal documents for clients and for my own business. If you look at my own Website Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy or Affiliate Agreement, you will see how friendly and informative your legal documents can be. If you are still unsure and want the maximum protection available to you, then it is incredibly simple to upgrade to a DIY+Review, Done For You or VIP service where you will become my legal client and I will advise and assist you accordingly.

Each DIY Pack contains:

1. a copy of the Terms of Purchase. These are also linked near the BUY NOW button. Make sure you read them before purchasing.
2. a comprehensive DIY Worksheet as a fillable PDF which you will use to prepare the information and policies you need.
3. a Blank Draft document with instructions for using your Worksheet answers to create your own fully branded contract.
4. an Accountability Action Session to support you in completing your DIY Pack and answer any questions you may have.

It is important to me that you actually USE your DIY Pack. Many people who purchase a DIY Pack experience subconscious resistance, procrastination or struggle to schedule time to complete their DIY Packs or Worksheets - much as they want to get them done. I know the DIY Packs can feel a little bit overwhelming, which is why I offer a free 1 hour Accountability Action Session with every DIY Pack purchase. There may be up to 3 other people who are also working on their DIY Packs on the call, but since I offer 2 sessions every week, you've got a good chance of having me all to yourself. Even if it's a full house, everyone gets quality attention and no-one misses out.

This session is an opportunity to ask me questions, pick my brain and get my support so you don’t get stuck wondering what you are supposed to write. Some people like to book their session at the start for co-working accountability to help them stop putting the project off and get writing. Others fill out as many questions in the Worksheet as they can, and then book a session so I can help fill in the blanks where they didn’t know what to write. Others power through the whole process and bring their first drafts to the session, so they can finalise any areas of concern or uncertainty. This session is for YOU to use, however you need it, so you have access to my guidance and support, and don't feel abandoned and overwhelmed.

Basically, I go around and around the circle answering questions – and if you run out of questions, I sit and read my book while you keep working on your document, so I am there to help if you need me.

Please note that during this session I do NOT review your draft – if you would like me to edit, proofread and sign off on your finished document, that is a separate legal service, the DIY+Review Upgrade (see below).

The Accountability Action Session is NOT a legal service – I am providing generalised information and mentoring without a full knowledge and understanding of your business. It is designed solely to support you doing the work yourself through the DIY process. If you want the full legal service, upgrades are available, and I offer generous payment plans on request.

You will receive several reminders with your booking link. In other words, I will nag you until you book in your session, tell me you didn't need it, or ask me to stop bugging you. Sessions don't expire, so there's no excuse for not finishing your DIY Pack!

You are entitled to book one session for each DIY Pack you purchase, so for example, if you purchased a Website T&Cs DIY Pack and a Privacy Policy DIY Pack, you are entitled to book 2 sessions which you can use however and whenever you want.

If you are not confident that your draft meets the unique needs of your business, you would like to know that your document ticks all of the legal requirements, or you would like greater assistance with refining your language to ensure your message is clear, I suggest upgrading to a DIY + REVIEW service.

You start by purchasing the DIY Pack, filling in the Worksheet, and creating the first Draft of your document.

You then email your first draft to me at michelle@carefreecounsel.com, letting me know that you would like to upgrade your product purchase to a DIY + Review Service.

I polish your first draft until it shines, making sure that it legally covers the needs of your business and that it is clear, comprehensive and easy to understand. Within 4-6 weeks after I receive your first draft, unless you have agreed to an urgency fee, I will email you a revised second draft in PDF format. This draft may contain highlighted areas or questions that require clarification. We go back and forth making amendments until we are both 100% happy with the final result.

Finally, when you are totally satisfied with the work we have done together, I invoice you for the cost of the upgrade. All prices are set out clearly in the Terms of Purchase that you will find linked on every legal document. Make sure you read and understand them before purchasing.

When you confirm your satisfaction, I will email you a final draft of your agreement, in both PDF and .doc format, and my Tax Invoice for the Review, payable within 14 days.

If you are finding that the words are not flowing and you need more assistance with turning your worksheet answers into a polished contract that reflects the beautiful presence of your business, my DONE FOR YOU service is available.

You start by purchasing the DIY Pack and filling in the Worksheet.

You then email your Worksheet to me at michelle@carefreecounsel.com, letting me know that you would like to upgrade your product purchase to a Done For You Service.

I take 4-6 weeks to create your first draft using your question answers, drafting a document that meets the legal needs of your business and that it is clear, comprehensive and easy to understand. I send it back to you and we go back and forth making amendments until you are 100% happy with the final result.

Finally, when you are totally satisfied with the work we have done together, I invoice you for the cost of the upgrade. All prices are set out clearly in the Terms of Purchase that you will find next to the BUY NOW button for each legal document. Make sure you read and understand them before purchasing.

When you confirm your satisfaction, I will email you a final draft of your agreement, in both PDF and .doc format, and my Tax Invoice for the Done for You upgrade, payable within 14 days.

If you don’t enjoy DIY, don’t have the time to fill in the Worksheet for yourself or just prefer to outsource the paperwork, my VIP service may suit your needs.

You start by purchasing the DIY Pack, reading through the Worksheet, making notes and collecting any information you need.

You then send me an email at michelle@carefreecounsel.com, letting me know that you would like to upgrade to the VIP Option. We talk through all the Worksheet answers together in an interview style (rather than sentencing you to death by paperwork). The session is recorded, and I use the recording to draft your legal document for you (and since we have laughed our way through the interview, lavishing love on your business, the result will be the most high-vibing legal document you can imagine.)

I will send you a first draft within 4-6 weeks after our interview, unless we have agreed to an urgency fee. This draft may contain highlighted areas or questions that require clarification. You respond to my questions and notify me of any further changes or amendments you require. The email correspondence will continue until you are 100% satisfied with your document.

When you confirm your satisfaction, I will email you a final draft of your agreement, in both PDF and .doc format, and my Tax Invoice for the VIP Upgrade, payable within 14 days.

Absolutely! I would love to meet you and answer all your questions, to ensure you are making the right decision for your needs.

Yes, I really, truly am a lawyer. I was admitted to the Supreme Court as a solicitor in NSW in 2010 and have practiced law continually ever since. Before that, I worked as an assistant in a small law firm in a country town for 2 years gaining practical legal experience. I am a professional member of the NSW Law Society, and a qualified mediator. If you need me to wear a suit to our zoom conference, forget it - I much prefer us both to feel relaxed and comfortable. I try to be the living proof that lawyers don't have to be intimidating to get respect. 

I have first class Honours in English and in Law, and a Master of Laws with Honours. I have Grad Dips in Legal Practice and Family Dispute Resolution, and Certificates in Workplace Mediation, Trauma Informed Mediation and Mediating with Children.

I am qualified to help clients all over Australia and NZ. I don't represent people in court because, as a mediator, I believe in most cases there are less stressful, less expensive, better ways to resolve problems, particularly when it comes to small business disputes.  One of the very best ways to do this is to have a Contract that Cares, which does such a good job of managing your relationship in the present, setting expectations and clearing up misunderstandings before they happen that problems very rarely arise - and if they do, you have a built in mechanism for dealing with them in a way that is to your mutual benefit.

When I am not writing Contracts that Care (or supporting my clients while they write their own) I am processing trade mark applications, or editing and creating Masters level law courses as a Program Developer with the College of Law.

You can read more about my journey and my approach to the law on my About Page.

My branding not only reflects who I am and what makes me happy - it also ensures that the right clients know when they have found me, and the wrong clients (those who don't appreciate my approach) move right on by without wasting their time or mine. It is also a whole LOT more FUN! Life is too short to be boring and beige, don't you think?