Getting Paid for your Freelance Writing
September 22, 2009 by Bob Younce
Filed under Money Matters
I think we can all agree that we’re not in the freelance writing business for purely noble purposes. The fact of the matter is you want to make money with your writing. In fact, you should make money with your writing. It’s what puts food on the table, clothes on your back and a roof over your head.
One of the essential parts to being successful in a freelance writing business (or any small business) is getting paid. With most of your clients, that’s not a problem. The vast majority of clients I’ve worked with pay, and they pay fast.
Still, it happens. Sometimes, you don’t get paid. A client goes under, or just disappears. You’re stuck, sometimes with days or weeks worth of work completed, with no dough to show for it.
So, how do you get your clients to fork over the cash? Here are a few tips that should increase your successful collection rates:
- Understand that not all clients are created equal. You need to focus on high-risk clients in your payment and collection processes.
- Use a contract. If you don’t have a standard freelance writing contract, you should. The contract will set your terms for payment, and is your best legal recourse if the client should refuse to pay.
- Recognize that small businesses sometimes just fail. Less than half of all small businesses make it to five years. Less than a third make it to ten years.
- If you’re doing a sizable project, consider getting a business credit report. The Dunn & Bradstreet report is pretty standard, and will run you around $60 for the basic report. If the client doesn’t have a business credit report (pretty common for small businesses) ask for upfront payment.
- Consider offering a discount for upfront payment.
- Use an escrow service for high-risk clients who aren’t willing to pay up front.
- Watch out for signs of trouble. If you can’t get ahold of a client during a project, flags should go up. Radio silence often indicates business trouble. (On the other hand, it could just mean your client has gone camping for the weekend without her cell phone. Don’t make too many assumptions here.)
- Create a watch list for clients that pay slow. Take quicker action with them. Call them within a couple days of invoicing.
- Follow the law. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act sets limits on what you can do in the process of trying to collect money owed to you. Find out what those rules are and follow them.
- Consider a collection agency. If you’re frequently hitting the no-pay wall, hire someone to handle these accounts for you.
Related posts:
Couple of other suggestions:
1) Letter of agreement instead of a contract. Still legally enforceable, doesn’t sound as intimidating to some clients
2) If unsure about a client, get a partial payment in advance…offer a partial discount in exchange. Not many will go for this, but I’ve had a few, particularly if project is longer term. In the same vein, if a project is very pricey and long-term, seek partial payments for hitting certain project deadlines (e.g., first draft). Or if it’s a project where there will be some outlay of cash, get those supplies paid for in advance. These all help minimize risk and improve case flow.
Yeah, I’ve run into this already. One client refuses to pay. The crazy thing is that they are on Elance and subcontracted out the project to me. I’ve already sent them several emails and am not getting a reply. I’m contemplating what my next step is.
Arwen,
You could offer a strongly worded letter. But, if you threaten to sue if they don’t pay, (a collector once told me), you have to follow through with the suit. You could also go to a collection agency (I write for two collection publications), but you would give up a good amount of the revenue as part of the collector’s fee.
Hi Phil,
Thank you for the advice. Surprise of all surprises, I woke up yesterday and found they had paid the invoice. Something to do with an incompetent A/P person. I don’t know if it’s true or not but dealing with this made me change my payment policy. Upfront payment required before any work starts.
It is against the FDCPA laws to threaten to sue and not follow through. I had to do research on an article about collection laws.
I’ve just started blogging a couple of months ago and thinking of making money online. I tried once to get a freelance writing job on a freelance jobs site but it didn’t end well. The client I was working with was a bit unclear about the follow-up things. My client sent me 5 titles to develop as a starter and then I discovered writing about topics I’m not interested in really painful. I just finished two titles of five given. And up to now, I am not informed about how this business is going to be.
Based on this, I turn a bit skeptical and pessimistic about freelance business in the Internet. But there is part of me saying I simply have to go on, give another shot, and somehow make some money with trusted clients.
So far, the issue has been almost always about trust. Doing business in person is difficult, doing it online is even more challenging. But seriously, how should we settle some legal or payment issues when the client and freelancer do not exist under the same law or live in different territories/countries? International court or what?
I am so new to the whole new freelance business world and would be glad to have someone able to transform my skepticism into optimism. Thanks.