Too often, our failure to succeed as crafts professionals lies not in the absence of talent or skills, but in resistance to acquiring a knowledge of sound business practices—especially those related to law and contracts. Like it or not, artists and artisans are as involved as other professionals in business and business law. Because art is at best a precarious means of life support, we require familiarity with applicable law in order to proceed easily and confidently in business transactions. As artists, we have a perennial tendency to spurn all conventional wisdom, to treat business dealings with the same spirit of adventure with which we develop media or style. Reinventing the wheel of business practice does not work as well as we would like, and being unclear in contractual matters makes us all the more vulnerable in transactions in which we commit our resources and our futures.