This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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So what do you do when your clients don't pay your invoices on time? We've got lots of freelancers out there, we have people who are charging for services, and in some cases, perhaps the best and easiest cases, people just pay for the service up front, but then in lots of other cases, there's an invoicing process where you do the work, you send out an invoice, they pay within three days, 10 days, 30 days, whatever the case may be, or they don't. And so we're gonna talk about that latter scenario here, how do you handle it? What can you do to set clearer boundaries, perhaps, ensure timely payments, and maybe also protect yourself from problematic clients. I'm not sure we'll be able to get to everything, but let's see what we can do to be helpful to our caller, David, a freelance writer from Jacksonville, Florida, and maybe somebody else out there by proxy, or if you're just trying to learn how to start a freelance business or thinking about different kinds of business ideas, categories, trying to figure out what your next side hustle is going to be.
Well, getting paid is good, and if you run into a problem of getting paid, what if you could avoid that on the front end? That would also be good. So let's talk about some red flags to watch out for when taking on new clients, and again, what David can do to kind of turn this around a bit. Thank you so much for being out there. I'm excited to bring you new episodes every day.
This is number 2,713. You're going to hear David's detailed question and my answer after the break. Stay tuned. [Music]
Hi, I'm David, a freelance writer from Jacksonville, Florida. I've been working with a client who consistently pays late or tries to negotiate rates after the work is completed, and it's causing me a lot of stress and financial strain.
So I'm wondering how I can set clear boundaries with this client and protect myself from similar situations in the future. What communication strategies or contract terms can I use to ensure timely payments and prevent scope creep? Additionally, I'm curious if there are any red flags I should look out for when taking on new clients to avoid problematic working relationships. How can I advocate for myself as a freelancer and maintain a professional and profitable writing side hustle? [Music]
Well, it's good we were talking about this because I know this is something that comes up a good bit, especially for new freelancers who are just building habits and maybe they feel, I don't know, a bit hesitant to follow up on payments.
They feel like they're harassing their client, even though their client owes them money. So a couple of things that can help is just from the beginning, communicating expectations clearly, what are the project details, the deadlines, what are the payment terms. You definitely wanna make sure you're getting a deposit, and then sometimes there's like a whole payment schedule, but it's actually pretty simple to just do it 50/50, like 50% on start of the project, 50% upon completion. If you're able to do 100% upfront, then do it. Some services work that way and that's normal, and that just kind of makes things easier.
Like I said at the beginning, if you just have a website where people go and pay and then you provide a service, then you never have to deal with this problem at all. So if you are able to do that, do that. Otherwise, just be really clear about your expectations, detailed scope of work, specify that any changes to the project scope will require additional compensation and so on, and then just be proactive in your communication, like send some friendly payment reminders before the due date, follow up really promptly if a payment is late, and sometimes things are late. That's also just kind of the reality, is like we all get behind, like I have paid bills late and I try not to do that, but it's usually just inadvertent. So if I get a reminder a couple of days after or something, or maybe the day after is even better, just say, hey, did you notice this invoice was due?
Then I'm like, oh, gotta go do that, right? So just reminders are good, don't sit on it for too long. And then I mentioned briefly like red flags and like knowing when to walk away. If a client is consistently paying late, or if they're asking for excessive revisions, or they disregard your contract terms, or if they're just not nice to work with, life is short, you gotta prioritize your mental health and your wellbeing and fun stuff also. So it's not just mental health, it's also like do fun stuff with your life, right?
That's very important. So if you kind of sense at the outset that something isn't going to go well, or this person might be difficult, you should pay attention to that, I think. So David, remain confident, don't hesitate to seek support, but also don't hesitate to follow up on those unpaid invoices, so that this is not a problem for you going forward. That's not why you can focus on what you really want to do. That is my advice, my take for you.
Listeners, thank you for being out there, sidehustleschool.com, resources for every episode, other tools and such, email list, send it out every Sunday, I've been doing that for seven years. I've got other projects I work on as well, I would love to connect with you wherever you are in whatever form. Thank you for listening, that's all for now. My name's Chris Guillebeau, this is Sidehustleschool. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
