At some point in your freelance career you will become stuck with a particular client who pays extremely late or not at all. Every freelancer will be able to tell you a horror story regarding payment for the work they’ve started or completed. It will at some point happen to you, so what things can you do to ensure it’s less frequent?

Over the next few months we are going to cover some essential freelancing tips specifically for designers. Most of the information covered in these blog posts will be suitable for many different freelancing practices. However we will pick out the most essential topics/problems that specifically designers will encounter during their freelance career.

The Contract

Regardless of your sector or expertise, you will need to create and use contracts with each of your projects and clients. So whether you are, for example a freelance photographer, graphic designer or illustrator, contracts will be essential part of your day-to-day life and vital to protecting your work and your legal rights as a designer. Although people generally don’t like to commit to contracts, in business, contracts are nearly always required and expected.
When creating a contract you should make sure that you include clauses for the following information.

• Amount the client is expected to pay
• How the client is going to pay you
• When the client will pay you by
• And finally, explain what the client is getting from you in return

One of the commonly missed steps from the contract is outlining what the client will expect from you. In your contract, clearly explaining that the client will get X, Y, Z means that there won’t be any misunderstandings, unnecessary conflicts or any reasons why they shouldn’t pay you later down the project life cycle. Also, as dramatic as it may sound, it’s important to explain within the contract what will happen if your client fails to pay for work which you have done for them. It needs to be achievable and legal, and you will have to ensure you are prepared to go through with it if necessary.

It may be the case that going through the hassle of getting paid offsets the amount you will receive but remember eventually someone will try and get away without paying so it’s important you’ve followed the mandatory steps outline above. Finally, don’t start any work until your contract has been signed. An inexperienced freelancer may be eager to get going and start mocking up sketches and concepts before the client has agreed to work with you. Remember an email or phone call isn’t classed as a legal obligation for them to pay you. So don’t take the risk and get the contract signed off. This also psychologically tells the client that the project is actually taking place.

Getting Paid

There are a number of different ways freelance designer can get paid. Typically you can either get paid partially or in full. You need to decide which method to take and weigh up the risks involved alongside the overall project costs. Demanding full upfront payment means the client is expected to completely trust you.

This might however prevent you from selling extra features for example, additional design concepts. The flip side to this is the client will eventually have to pay you, so why not at the start? If it’s necessary to purchase resources in order to begin the project then demanding full payment upfront is advisable. At the very least you should request payment to cover those expenses.

Sending The Invoice

Once you have completed the work you should present your client with an invoice. Your invoice should include the following;

• Your contact information
• The amount payable and when the payment is due by
• A brief description of the work completed
• And finally an invoice number

Once your invoice had been created send this off to the client and make a note in your calendar of the due date. It can be hard not stressing over when your client will pay you but if it’s within the due date, then there isn’t anything you can really do apart from wait. Remember clients are normally very good at paying, especially after you’ve worked with them on one or more occasions and built that trust.

Following these simple steps will help you avoid miss-payments and make your freelancing simpler and hopefully stress free. Do you have any tips for designers to aid the ‘getting paid’ process of freelancing? If there are any freelancing topics you would like us to cover drop us a comment below or catch us on Twitter. Stay tuned for the next freelancing tips for designers.