Comments on: Turning Down Work in a Down Economy

By: natebalcom

natebalcom — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:55:36 +0000

I feel your pain man. With the last freelance project I worked on the company waited 3 months to pay. I believe they legally have 90 days before they absolutely have to pay you and a lot of companies will do just that. It's just that much more annoying in a down economy to not get paid. It's a fine line to walk though.

By: jmarshall74

jmarshall74 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:08:28 +0000

I really like your policy of 1.5k max outstanding. I think I will adopt a similar policy. It seems to be a way to protect yourself and still be able to work with companies with a net30 payment policy. Thanks for the comment!

By: yashesh

yashesh — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:27:29 +0000

devgrl, that is spot on, with current market conditions the biggest fear is not about receiving payments but about the company to whom you've rendered the services going bankrupt.
we've lost a bit of monies and become wiser i guess by having a very strict limit on outstanding payments. i.e. if the company has a policy of net30 we have a policy of max outstanding of 1.5k, so the customer may choose to hold on for 30 days before continuing work or payup 1.5k due and restart the cycle.

By: DevGrl

DevGrl — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:10:05 +0000

Jason, I'm glad I'm not the only one!! My policies are the same as yours, but you always have those clients who take weeks and sometimes months to pay an invoice. In most of my cases the work has been completed, it's live on the web making revenue for that customer, while I sit waiting for a check. Aggravating, and with the current economy, you run the risk of the customer going out of business and you never get paid.

By: jmarshall74

jmarshall74 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:42:53 +0000

Thanks for the support! For an independent designer it is easy to get abused by clients. Not that they intend to abuse, but freebies here and there can add up and suck away your time.

By: Joann Sondy

Joann Sondy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:35:33 +0000

Jason, I agree with you. I've operated on the invoice when complete and wait… wait… for payments. A model that I adopted from my former agency days; a model that doesn't work well in today's econ climate. I'm also becoming more strict about "giving" service away. I'm talking about pro bono projects/clients, but rather "can I have that on disc when complete?" NO, unless you pay me.