I was wondering what most VA's do as far as when signing agreements.

Do you sign the Confidentiality/Non-Disclosure Agreements that your client drafts for you to sign or do you include it in your own agreement that you have drafted for your client to sign? Which is best for a VA to do? I look forward to hearing back from someone. Thank you!

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Tishawn
Celestial Caring Enterprises, LLC

In my mind, a contract and an NDA are two different things. In my business I would still have the client sign my contract and I'd be willing to sign their NDA. A contract cover the agreement between you and the client regard the business transaction that will occur between the two of you. An NDA is just asking that you do not disclosure information about the client to anyone else. Hope this helps.

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Kimberly
Facebook Marketing Magic!

Thank you for getting back to me. Yes, your posts helped for sure:-) You explained everything very clearly. I was just reviewing the signed service agreement and that is exactly what it is. I do not have a problem signing client's NDA's. However, from this point on, I will draft a seperate confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement to give to a new client along with the service agreement to cover all areas from the get go. Thanks again!

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Tishawn
Celestial Caring Enterprises, LLC

My service contract contains confidentiality and non-disclosure provisions. I will not sign anyone else's agreement. A client can make changes to my standard agreement and, if I approve those changes, I will sign. If not, then there's no deal unless we can come to a mutual agreement. Be very careful what you sign. Unless you have many years of legal experience you may miss things that will come crashing down on you along the way.

I don't mean to scare you, just be careful :cool:

Lynne

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The Wordpro Wizard
www.wordprowizard.com

Thank you so much Lynne,
You made me remember what a Virtual Assitant told me a year ago.....never sign your client's agreements. I totally agree with you and plan to stand firm in that area as well.

Oh no, you didn't scare me. lol You made me realize how more careful I have to be when signing legal documents without an attorney involved. Thanks again!

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Tishawn
Celestial Caring Enterprises, LLC

I have a contract and mutual non-disclosure agreement that I ask all my clients to sign. The reason being is my non-disclosure covers me if I should talk with a colleague (in general terms) about a clients situation that has signed the non-disclosure agreement with me.

This gives my clients the protection they need and as well as the protection I need. My non-disclosure agreement is one that has been created by a business associate of mine and has been run by their lawyers over and over again.

I will often sign an NDA with someone I'm simply having a conversation with or a group (such as a mastermind group) just to ensure that everyone is protected and all the information shared is protected.

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Renee Shupe, Become a Techie Virtual Assistant
eMail Marketing & Aweber Training Starts May 15! - Save 50% using VAFAweber

I should add that I do have a confidentiality clause in my contact as well that covers me and the client and I think that's important to have regardless of whether there's another NDA or not.

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Kimberly
Facebook Marketing Magic!

I have a one-page contract for independent contractors that has a paragraph in it about non-disclosure. I have had companies with their own very short independent contractor contract/NDA and they had to use that one (to which a few changes had to be made specific to my line of work). In those cases, we signed their contract and mine. There was nothing in conflict between the two. I wanted mine signed, too, because there are things in it that were not in their generic one. They had no problem signing both. If I was working with an individual who wanted to draft one instead of using mine, I would either have both signed or make sure everything was in the one they drafted that I wanted.

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Pam Deyerle - Transcriptionist in the Richmond, Virginia area
The Perfect Word Transcription Services

Thank you Renee, Kimberly, and Pam. Your posts were very helpful. All went well! The owner said we can use mine. I will be better prepared in the future now:-)

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Tishawn
Celestial Caring Enterprises, LLC

I don't see why not signing it as long as you read it very closely! Have them sign yours and then sign theirs!

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Shellea Montgomery:daisy: