Hey - did I mention that I'm not a lawyer? I'm not but that doesn't mean you can't look over variants of some contracts I've used in the past.

You don't ever want to work without a contract and you really really don't ever want to work without getting paid! And it happens! In fact, a good friend of mine was telling me over lunch the other day how he's getting burned right now because of "bank issues" from a client that's also a very good friend of his.

This guy has been a solo programmer for 28 years. He still put himself in a perilous position because he decided to take a risk. He ended up getting paid a little bit, but he's still waiting on the last 3 months of promised wages... don't do that to yourself...