Pay your freelancers...
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- monNom0
I don't know all the ins and outs of it, but 'factoring' of invoices might make a lot of sense for freelancers. Essentialy you sell the debt(your invoice) at a discount to a factoring company, who then collects. You get maybe 80-90% of the invoice but you get it right away, and the factoring co. eats the bad debts. -- Sorts out your cash-flow, though reduces your ultimate profit.
Not sure if you maybe need lots of billings to do it though.
- moth0
Maybe you guys should consider 50% upfront - or upon delivery.
On delivery is good - no money - no stuff.
- but that takes backbone!
=.(monNom - Try doing that with a big client. They'll turn around and find someone else within the hour.fyoucher1
- i do that with some clients. yeah, big agencies. nope.akrokdesign
- Doesn't work most of the time with smaller jobs. Big jobs, yes.arthur
- but that takes backbone!
- FallowDeer0
Again like a few of you have posted im in the same boat.
They are all in a rush when they need that project because the client is coming in tomorrow, but when its time to pay up, never to be seen.
- ukit0
Best policy is to secure collateral of some kind, like some of their children
- moth0
'but that takes backbone'
Not really. As long as you communicate your terms from the outset then everybody is clear where they stand and your client can budget accordingly.
- raf0
Setting project milestones with partial delivery/payments is a good idea, ie.:
Design comps → payment
HTML cut-up → payment
Deployment → payment
- whereRI0
im still waiting for 4000 euro from a months ago
- mathinc0
I'm currently in a situation where a client has owed me 4k for project that didn't turn out very successful, which definitely puts my client in a tough situation too. However, I was hired to simply assist a main developer. The project was unorganized from the beginning and when the project started to tank I worked around the clock, literally, to save the project. My invoice is now 3 months past due.
I haven't had a single problem with a client in over 3 years until this one. The trick I've found is that you NEED to get a large deposit upfront, unless you have history with the client and know that they're solid. I didn't in this case and it's bit me in the ass. This was a new client for me and initially I thought, because of what the client said, that I'd be working about 20 hours tops. This turned into a 70 hour invoice from one week of work.. so like I said, I literally worked around the clock with 3 consecutive nights of 2 hours of sleep.
So in essence, get a deposit so that the client is already committed to the project. If they refuse to give you a deposit, walk away.
- section_0140
The comment on clients not paying because they don't like the work, wife doesn't get it, etc. is why I'm moving more and more towards development. For one, I can charge more. Second, there isn't any team of account managers or client's idiot spouse's or whatever critiquing the application I just wrote. No one is saying "Can you add a couple more methods to that class" or "Why'd you use that variable?". Does it do what it's supposed to do? Yes. Done.
I love design, but dealing with idiot clients is awful. Luckily, I haven't had any serious payment issues like people here. Plus, since I handle all the ftp admin, I could just shut their site down if I didn't get paid. Or, I could build a secret backdoor login if people get sly and try to change the ftp. I think I will do that from here on out actually.
- You obviously haven't done any work for Disney. But yes, otherwise I completely agree. :)mathinc
- PonyBoy-1
C'MONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN...
PAY UP.
- ideaist0
freelance or die trying...
- moldero1
I have a firm in SF who owes me $$, and wont return my e-mails because he has to balls. hes lucky its under $1k and I don't really need it.
no names just a hint.
R.G. at MJVE