Paying A Freelancer On Time

If you talk to any freelancer about clients they will have all experienced one who has not paid on time. Some have had really bad experiences with up to six months overdue payment. I have been fortunate to only have invoices 60 days overdue. Still with a tiny person in the house this is less than ideal!

Whenever I hire an individual to conduct a service at my house I always pay on the day the work is completed. But why wouldn’t I? They have completed a job performing a skill which I cannot do myself. They deserve to be paid.
However when it comes to freelancing in the digital space so many of my colleagues have gone months without payment from a client. Some clients have gone as far as actively AVOIDING all correspondence.

But why do clients do this? Perhaps cash flow is a challenge? Maybe they struggle with keeping on top of their emails. It’s not for one to speculate. What I do know however is it’s a real mistake for clients not to pay on time. A freelancer is a real asset to your business and can help you through a number of different challenges you face. Furthermore they tend to be specialists within a chosen area; as such you may need to lean on them in the future.

Clients should pay freelancers on time. Here are a couple of reasons why..

Freelancers talk:
Freelancers are isolated and work alone quite often so they rely on other freelancers as a support network via social media and meetups. Freelancers will tell other freelancers if a client is a notoriously bad payer as they wouldn’t want them to get stung too.

It’s very similar too if you go out for food and receive a completely shit service. You tell your friends, family and anybody within a three mile radius of the shocking meal you had. Granted that could have been one bad night for the chef but a reputation typically sticks.

If a business gains a reputation as a really poor paying client then the reputation will cascade throughout the freelance community.

It sours the milk:
I’m not sure about you but I like to be paid for the hard work I do on time and within the payment period (mine is 30 days). If the payment period lapses a little then the whole relationship is soured a little bit.

I work incredibly hard for my clients and those who pay on time I’m enthused to see them succeed. If someone pays me late constantly without a valid reason then I am less excited to work hard for them.

The relationship feels damaged; tarnished almost. I’m not buzzed by a client who doesn’t pay when they should as I’m not in the market to work for free.

Freelancers have bills:
Can you imagine looking at your online banking on the 1st of the month and not seeing any type of incoming income and a whole host of direct debits going the opposite direction? This is reality when a client doesn’t pay.

I’m completely in the camp that you need a solid amount of savings when freelancing but you still get the anxious feeling when you see outgoings and nothing coming in. Now imagine that happening to you and then having to chase getting that payment time and time again just to live. THAT’S how it feels as a freelancer.

Families:
I have a wife who is doing a great job of raising our little person when I’m at the computer. She works one day a week but her primary day to day activity is to raise and nurture our daughter. She’s doing a terrific job.

My role is to work hard for clients, earn money and in turn support my family. When a client doesn’t pay me I’m not supporting my family. Clients need to be more aware of the anxiety and stress late payment can inflict on families. Most people have dependables in their life; people who rely on them and the salary they bring in. Clients who do not pay on time amplify the challenge.

Freelancers add real value:
Every client I have worked with throughout my 16 months freelancing I have added real value to and grown their traffic/revenue. The same could be said for the majority of freelancers. As specialists we are hired to add value in a specific area of a business.

Late paying clients is a spit in the face of the hard work and value you have created for their business. A freelancer adding such value should be compensated within the agreed terms of the contract.

How you should think of freelancers:

I think the real challenge for freelancers is that clients perhaps don’t think of any of the above when it comes to a freelancer. Freelancers are a resource to solve a business challenge and not seen as humans with families to feed or debts to pay.

Perhaps how clients think of freelancers is the answer?

Think of them as a salaried employees:
A freelancer should be seen as another member of your payroll who happens to pay their own taxes and have none of the company benefits/perks. Would you pay your salaried employees late and if you did would you expect them to be happy about that?

We all know what the answer is. Freelancers are another addition to the payroll who can be switched on and off as and when projects dictate. Treat them like that.

They are people:
Freelancers are real people with similar life challenges to anyone else. The one difference being that they work independently. That in itself comes with a heap of further challenges outside of chasing pay.

We are people with monthly commitments, houses and children. Sure we’ve signed up for an irregular paycheck but what we haven’t signed up for is constantly chasing payments for work we have completed. Remember freelancers are ACTUAL humans with other ACTUAL humans who rely on them.