How To Get Paid On Time As A Freelance Writer
Freelancer payday shouldn’t depend on luck.
One of my biggest pet peeves is not getting paid on time.
I am the type of person who gets anxious when they can’t pay bills on or before their due dates. I’m also the type of person who hates to ask people for money when they’re feeling a little light. When I had a 9-5 job with a W2, that didn’t matter. However, I’ve found over the years that getting paid as a freelancer can be extremely difficult, especially if you are an introvert and people pleaser.
I do a few of the following things to ensure I get paid on time and in full after every writing assignment.
Start With A Contract
Contracts are good for you — they ensure you get paid on time, and they make you look like you have your sh*t together.
One thing I’ve found extremely helpful is creating a contract to send to potential new clients when you begin working with them. This lets them know what they should expect from you and precisely what you should expect from them. Have them sign a contract before you do any work for them. In the contract, be sure to specify the following:
Your rate
How long your client has to pay the invoice after they receive it. In my contract, I typically give clients two weeks from the date I send it.
Any late fees for not paying on time
Remember -- you are a business. You are allowed to charge fees for late payments, just like your credit card company might charge you a late payment fee. If you feel wrong about this, remember the following: the time you have to take to write them reminder emails is time you could be using to work.
In the past, I have had virtually no issues with clients who agree to sign a contract before we work together. It was why I started instituting contracts with any client who I wasn’t working with on a site like Upwork.com that has freelancer protection.
For a sneak peek at a basic freelance contract I use, join my Patreon at the VIP Tier!
Professional Reminders
If you use a program like Quickbooks Self-Employed or PayPal to do your invoicing, you can remind your customers without even having to confront them personally.
Sometimes, clients forget to pay their bills the first time they look at them. (Let’s be fair -- do you always pay your bills as soon as you open them?) A simple auto reminder from PayPal or Quickbooks Self-Employed is usually enough to remind my clients.
If your auto-reminders don’t seem to be working, I like to send an exploratory email asking my clients if they received my invoice. Typically that helps them remember, and it may be that your auto-invoice reminders were going to spam. Otherwise, it’s a pretty friendly way of saying “hey, you’re late to pay me. Let’s fix that.”
Finally, be patient. Give your client at least a week to pay, especially if they are a small business.
Don’t Be Afraid To Send A Personal Email
In one of the worst instances of payment avoidance, I wrote copy for an entire (tremendous) website, and the client went radio silent for three months. This was a multi-million dollar company with a millionaire CEO.
Who just decided not to pay me.
I emailed him several times, sent multiple reminders through PayPal, and called him. All of my attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.
When I had almost resigned to the idea that I might just not get paid for this project, I decided to email the HR department of the company he owned. A day later, I was paid. Had I not kept at it and been persistent, I would have given a millionaire free labor (which, if you know me, I am vehemently opposed to!)
If They’re Bad About It, Don’t Work With Them Again
I’ve been here far too many times.
Even with all these protections in place, you will still likely run into clients you don’t see eye to eye with — and ones who take their sweet time to pay you. To this day, I still have to occasionally track clients down for money, and it’s hugely frustrating.
Should it happen? No. I’m a professional, and I’d like my clients to treat me as though I am any other vendor they would work with. However, it has happened to me repeatedly, and it has permanently impacted the relationships I’ve had with former clients. In severe cases, I’ve severed ties entirely and moved on to work with other clients.
It’s just not worth it to me to work with clients with a bad payment track record. I’d rather move on and meet someone new, and you shouldn’t feel bad if that’s how you feel, too. You deserve to get paid!