Sweat Equity Contract

A couple friends and I have entered into a new business partnership. We need to bring in a few other people with a particular specialty to do a substanial portion of work. We've solicited and received interest from a few former co-workers who are willing to do this work on a handshake that they will share in any future success the business may have. However, I want to formalize this arrangement with a contract that turns hours of work into a share of the company. We're not in a position to hire a lawyer, and we were hoping to go with the advise of some friends who are lawyers. Unfortunately, they've been busy and not entirely responsive. With the thought that I want to keep this as simple as possible, I've searched for examples that I may be able to reuse but have had no success. Can someone provide advise or a link to a sample contract that would accomplish my goal?

The nature of contractual law is very precise. NOT having the right document could allow loop holes later that could come back to bite you in the, well.. "wallet". I would wait on the advice of a contractual law/business law attorney who can craft a legally binding air tight agreement agreeable to all parties, and relevant to the nature of your business, for your own peace of mind. To not do so now before proceeding would be very foolish.

Time is money, I know. But getting the cart before the horse is never a good thing. Messes up the cart and makes the horse REALLY out of sorts.

Good luck.