As a freelance writer you have many important decisions to make. Quite a few of them are based around getting paid. Are you the type of freelancer who always asks for payment upfront? Or do you trust clients enough to pay you upon completion?
Most freelance writers agree that getting paid some money upfront is very important. In some cases this may be 50 percent, but in others you may be able to receive the entire payment before getting started.
With new clients, I always ask for at least half of the payment before getting started. This helps to protect me against non-payment, which has happened from time to time. At least if I get half of the money to start I am not totally out should the client decide to disappear.
What about with existing clients? This makes things a bit stickier. If you totally trust the client because they have paid in the past, you may feel comfortable waiting until completion to send an invoice. But even then, make sure you are careful about what you are doing.
In March, I completed a job for a client who has been sending me work for a year or so. While he always paid on time in the past, for one reason or the next, the money has yet to arrive for this project. If I would have requested payment upfront this would have never been a problem. Unfortunately, I trusted the client because they were fast and efficient in the past.
Whether or not you get paid upfront is your decision. At the very least, you should do this with new clients. Once you find payment terms that work, stick with them.
Over the past few years I have seen a big change among a large number of freelance writers. Many of them prefer web writing over any other type of project. While I am not totally sure why this is the case, I have a few ideas.
It goes without saying that more and more webmasters and companies are in need of web writing. For this reason, freelancers are flocking to these positions in an attempt to pickup additional work. In other words, they are going to where the jobs are at – and this is a very good idea.
With so many web writing jobs you would be a fool to pass them by. But remember this: you don’t want to pass up other opportunities because you cannot see past the internet. If you do, you may miss out on writing feature articles, marketing copy, books, and much more. Do you really want these opportunities to pass you by?
Web writing is a lot of fun, can pay well, and many times results in ongoing work. In short, these projects definitely have a lot to offer. Just make sure that you are not focusing all your time and effort on this one type of project. You need to spread yourself around, ensuring that all your eggs are not in one basket.
With so many benefits, as well as a lot of open jobs, there is no wondering why web writing has become so popular. As long as you continue to seek out other opportunities, these types of projects can help you grow as a writer while making a nice living.
Last week, I dealt with an interesting situation. A client that I had been working with for many years got in touch and needed a few web articles. As always, I quoted him the rate that we always work at. Soon enough the project was underway, and everything seemed to be progressing as usual.
A day or two after our first conversation the client emailed and asked me to send my best quote. As you can imagine, this confused me for a couple of reasons. First off, I thought we already agreed to the same price as always. Along with this, the job had already begun.
After sending an email back, he responded that he was hoping to spend less money this time around. I never saw this coming, and was having a difficult time understanding what he was trying to do.
In the end, things worked out as the client decided to pay his “usual rate†and leave well enough alone. Of course, this didn’t change the fact that the entire situation was quite strange from start to finish.
When a client attempts to change a detail like this, it is important that you do the same as me. First off, communicate your feelings with the client. In some cases, this is all you need to do in order to get back on track. Along with this, don’t back down just because you want the work. If details were agreed upon upfront, both parties should be willing to stick with them throughout the project.
While it would be nice to avoid situations like this altogether, doing so is not always as simple as it sounds. The best thing you can do is be 100 percent prepared for anything that comes your way.
