i was just a dude with 3 contractors, i figured it'd just get resolved cause i didnt do anything wrong...

I can absolutely see myself falling into that same trap. Thinking that it's just a misunderstanding and that it'll get resolved any day now, just have to do one more thing. They can't be that unreasonable right? The unfortunate lesson that that you have to assume the worst and escalate right away.

This.

You run a business without a lawyer? Ballsy!

Not uncommon

indie consulting is pretty small scale

It probably wouldn't hurt you to make a lawyer acquaintance and put one on retainer. A few hundred bucks upfront and you'll have someone you can call to help take care of things like this.

You need access to a good lawyer or you're going to get run over. When you sue, you can sue for legal costs, damages to your business, and punitive damages.

Lawyer would be great but it may be that you have agreed to a contract which says you cannot sue them, only arbitration.

Arbitration isn't necessarily a bad thing. And you probably still want to have a lawyer involved.

I don't know much about arbitration but I assume it cannot be a good thing if you don't have the right to sue any more.

pre-dispute arbitration agreements are bad.

https://arbitrationinformation.org/docs/problems/

there are some very few aspects that can be positives under some conditions (speed, informality, etc.), it is almost certainly outweighed by the negatives.