In other words, I'm signalling that the power-dynamics players end up costing too much.
I used to do business-on-a-handshake too. Nowadays, I don't try to "lock [customers] in with contracts," but I do "spend a lot of time carefully studying everything" to make sure things are guaranteed fair to both sides. I'd advise the same, but until you've been down that road once or twice, I suspect you're right that we might not get along. I was there too at one point.
The business-on-a-handshake crowd is a mixture of honest people and con artists. I was told by more seasoned mentors that good contracts make good partnerships, and now I believe that philosophy.