If you watch TV, chances are that you’ve seen that commercial where all the various business owners are asking “How do I get paid faster?”. I never really thought about that until I ended up waiting what seemed like forever to get paid from a few clients this month. I’m still waiting, actually. Because I’m a problem-solver, I sat down and thought about this question for quite a while and the following is what I came up with.
How do I get paid faster, anyways?
Well, one thing I’ve noticed about potential clients over the past year is that you can generally tell who’s who and how serious they are about working with you and paying you in a timely manner. For example, if it takes them a week to respond to each email you send you may not want to accept work from them. I understand people are busy, but if you can’t communicate effectively with your clients that can cause problems down the road. If they don’t look at their email at least once every few days, how are they going to get your invoice and pay it on time? That’s just one example.
Another issue for most freelancers, especially online freelancers, isn’t just getting paid in a timely manner; it’s getting paid at all. If you’ve ever been stiffed, chances are that you’ve taken precautions to protect yourself since then. The following ideas can help keep you protected against non-slow-or-partial paying clients.
Aside from choosing projects wisely, a freelancer needs to tune into their intuition. Its understandable to want to jump at a project after you’ve been through a dry spell but you have to resist that urge. You don’t want someone to end up taking you for a ride and not paying you the full project price. Even if you collect a deposit, chances are you’re going to want all of the money you worked for and you’re going to want it before the power company shuts the lights off. I know because I’ve been there. I got ripped off a lot when I first started out. You can usually tell by your gut whether or not a client is worth the trouble. If you’re looking at an ongoing gig, make sure that payment terms are stated clearly within the contract.
You should also get client phone numbers rather than just email addresses. That way if you have to play bill collector for a while you’ll know that it will be harder for them to ignore a phone call than to delete an email like they’ve probably been doing. If you run a business that’s based on the privacy of the clients, then be sure to hand them a copy of a privacy policy.
Something else that works well is honesty. If you are having severe financial difficulties and are being threatened by bill collectors and you aren’t collecting when you need to, be sure to let the client know that you’re having financial problems and you’d appreciate it if they would forward a payment as soon as possible.
If you deal with a lot of different clients, you should invest in Prepaid Legal Services. They’ll come to your aid if a client ever tries to stiff you and membership costs are low. Before you say you can’t afford it, ask yourself if you can afford to get stiffed. Usually, all these guys need to do is write a letter for you and the client will typically pony up the money. If you have a particularly difficult weasel on your hands (like that piece of work James Clemmons I found on Freelancer.com) then you may need to ask for more assistance.
If you’ve got some ideas about getting paid faster, I’d love to hear them. Feel free to share any ideas that have worked for you. 
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