A love letter to anyone who hires freelancers: PAY 👏 THEM 👏 ON 👏 TIME 👏 It’s straight up scary to hear about what Mădălina Pandrea and Tawni Sattler are going through. It really shouldn’t be this hard to get paid. Companies, please do better.
Not trying to sound rude or heartless but honest feedback from a freelancer with almost 2 decades of experience - don’t start any work until initial payment is made then get their card information on file with a clear expectation of milestone and/or timed charges so everyone’s clear. If a client gives you problems with this simple process, it’s not a client you want. Trust me, I’ve learned from similar hardships.
How about when you have a casual agreement, you invoice them, and they refuse to pay you in full? 😧
Sometimes payment terms are net 60 as well, so I have been billing every two weeks to keep the cash flow coming in more regularly.
... and freelancers! If you're getting this kind of treatment from a client, tell your freelancing pals.
This is great but companies are set up as bureaucracies and they hold on to their dollars until the very last minute. There really needs to be some type of law that states a company under x employees needs to be paid within 15 days.
Similarly, if you work at a small company and the owner asks if they can pay you with a personal check instead of running payroll that month, start looking for another job. Had this happen when I was younger and it took me WAY too long to realize that I was never going to get that raise I had been asking for, because the company literally could barely afford to pay me at my current salary.
Freelancers -- absolutely stop work if your payment is late.
Stephanie Trovato yup! I always do :) My experience has been if the freelancers I work with can trust me to pay them a fair rate and on time, every time; I can trust them to give their best and be flexible where needed to deliver the best results for the end client! It’s pretty simple IMO and why I think I have the best and most loyal crew / freelancers in the world :)
We pride ourselves on being a favorite client of outside help because we pay them immediately upon receipt of invoice. I’ve been a freelancer and I know the toll it takes on your life waiting to be paid. We built the business with that in sight, and a desire to be better.
✨Freelance content writer for B2B SaaS companies. Ghostwriter for founders. ✨
1moI agree. That's the bare minimum these companies must do.