Running a one man show of any type means that you have to wear more than one hat. As a freelance writer, my main job is to write pretty much whatever my clients want; and I really love this part of the job. But of course, another hat that I have to wear is that of a collection agency. After all, there is no point in doing work if I am not going to get paid for it. Sure, I love writing, but I need to pay the bills as well.
Collecting freelance writing payments is sometimes easy and sometimes difficult. For instance, the majority of my clients are great about either paying me at the same time each month, or whenever I send them an invoice. But for all the good freelance writing clients, there are those that slack off in this area. I will send them an invoice, and two weeks later the money is still waiting to be collected.
Here are three tips that I follow when collecting payments from clients who like to slack off.
1. Always send an invoice when you send the completed work. This will not only show that the job is done, but hopefully, it will also remind the client that they need to send your money. Your invoice does not have to be complex. I include my contact information and the clients, as well as details on the job and how much money is due. Once you have a sample invoice to use, it will only take you a few minutes to fill in the appropriate fields with the updated information.
2. I usually give a client five business days before I remind them about paying the invoice. Of course, this is based largely on my past experiences with the client. If it is a business client, many of them only cut checks at the first of the month. In a situation like this I simply wait seven to ten days into the month before checking in.
3. Unfortunately, there are going to be clients who never want to pay. The first client that I ever had still owes me $500! Once I began to make more money I told them that I was moving on, but would be glad to complete the current project. Of course, I sent the final work and that was the last I heard from them. The moral of this story is that you should not let one bad seed spoil all your clients. There are some people who are into scamming others. Sure, it is nice to avoid them, but this is not always possible. If you get scammed, figure out what you could have done differently, and then use this information as you move on.
Collecting freelance writing payments can be a pain in the neck. But when the money starts to roll in, it is always nice to watch it add up!  Â
If you are self-employed, the ability to work when and where you want is a huge benefit; at least for me. But at the same time, this flexibility can also cause quite a few problems. For instance, there is no boss telling you to get your work done. Generally speaking, the only motivation you have is that to make money and retain clients.
So how long is your workday? For me, this seems to fluctuate day in and day out. And at the same time, defining the length of my workday is never easy to do.
Take today for example. I started work on my first project of the day, a feature article, at 705 am. Four hours later, I have finished that project as well as many others. And guess what? This blog post is the last planned item that I have to complete today. This leaves me the option of doing several things until 5 o’clock rolls around.
First off, I could get started on my work for tomorrow. While I never like to do this, I will probably take an hour or so to get a head start. Another option, and the one that I have been taking advantage of, is to work on new business opportunities. As I have discussed, I am starting several new blogs that are taking up a lot of my time. But as long as I have several hours to work on them each afternoon, I should be able to keep up without any problems.
Of course, do not let these short workdays confuse you. Even though I have finished all my work today in four hours, there are other days when I work 10 hours or more; it all depends on my work load, as well as what I have going on in my life at any given time.
All in all, it is a great feeling to work half a day from time to time. But of course, being self-employed is not all fun and games. For as many half days that I work, there are just as many nighttime and weekend hours!Â
One of the biggest problems that I have when it comes to business is jumping ahead of myself. In other words, I want instant gratification. But as you well know, this is not the way that things work in the business world; at least not most of the time.
In the cases that I have been patient my businesses have flourished. The number one example of this is the resounding success of my freelance writing career. If I would have given up after the first month (when I made $52), who knows what type of job I would have at this time. The same thing holds true for this blog. Even though I am not getting loads of traffic, it is increasing steadily. And along with this my income is doing the same. I am hoping that in another few months things will be even better in both the areas of traffic and earnings.Â
It can be difficult to stick with a business opportunity when it is not working the way you had hoped. After all, who wants to waste time on something that may not end up a success? It is important to believe in your idea, and give it enough time to work out. Quitting takes all your problems and gets rid of them. But at the same time, quitting also gets rid of any chance you have of success. And if you are not set up for success you will have no chance of achieving it in the future.
How much time are you willing to devote to growing your business or blog? Make sure that you take enough time to give every opportunity your all. If you work on a business for a year and you do not see any results, it may be time to move on. But all in all, until you give each opportunity a fair shake, you will have no idea what could have come.
