Anna, I read down thru the comments, and I gotta say, I admire your integrity as well as your willingness to mentor. Thank you for all you do here; I'm learning tremendously from you. Have a great 2023!

Thank you, you're a great mentor

Payments are generally a bone of contention for freelancers. It's a good suggestion to split and structure the payments. My question is, how best to do it? One structure won't fit all. Another issue that I've faced is the 15-25% (the last bit) is either partially paid or sometimes not paid at all. How long to follow up on that, and should one give adverse publicity to such people?

@ElearnerEngaged

Жыл бұрын

To be honest, the best payment is no split at all - full payment up front. Then second best is split into two. There are no rules here, you can make up your own terms. In the end it has to feel good… so if getting paid up front feels great and lights a fire for you to overdeliver for your client… GO FOR IT!! 😊😊

New subscriber, first video... just wanted to say thanks!

@ElearnerEngaged

Жыл бұрын

Great to have you here!

Anna, thank you so much for sharing these lessons with us. I am currently transitioning (more accurately being transitioned) out of my full-time job as a Lead Instructional Designer into full-time freelancing. I've been planning this journey for the last two years, and had even considered how I would get paid. But your video turned the lightbulb on that I had never considered "When" I would get paid. As you mentioned, I was approaching this with an employee mindset, I thought I would get paid when my work was finished, just like it's always been. THANK YOU so much for opening my eyes!!! I was wondering if you think finding a middle ground of getting half upfront in a non-refundable payment, and then the other half upon delivery is acceptable?

@ElearnerEngaged

Жыл бұрын

My pleasure and so wonderful that you found this useful :) Ok, so I've done that set up with the payments and it has worked just fine. The idea is to get some commitment and payment up front, because that is the only time in the relationship where you have real leverage. Would I say "non-refundable" probably not, as that might scare people, but then again... worth a try. There are no rules, but what we make. :)

Could you provide a bit more info on how one should structure payment if not attached to a milestone, is a time and material approach better with additional payment negotiated for things such as standing time or delays and changes managed through formal scope changes?

@JK2050J

Жыл бұрын

I agree. I wasn't convinced about this one.

@ElearnerEngaged

Жыл бұрын

Great question, and I appreciate you taking the time to ask it. You simply provide two schedules - one work/deliverable schedule and another that has the dates for payment - they are not dependent on each other - just like an employee paycheck is not contingent on them finishing a project :D . If you split your payments into three parts (for example) you have three dates one at the start, one in the middle one at the end of the project. Yes, the last one may coincide with delivering some part of the project, but really if done right, you've been providing value and prototypes to sign off on so early on in the process, the payment is just a formality. If there are changes in scope (which happens, but not too often if you have a solid offer set out from the start) well that is written into the contract to accomodate for them. To be honest, I consider big scope changes a new contract and address it as such... it depends on the client and the situation. Hope that helps.

@ElearnerEngaged

Жыл бұрын

@@JK2050J Well, one way to convince yourself is to just do it and see what happens... a better outcome or a worse one. I am sharing what had worked for me, and challenging the way things have always been done... because as I said, it puts unnecessary strain on everyone. Let me know how it goes. :)

@JK2050J

Жыл бұрын

@@ElearnerEngaged, I didn't mean it was a bad idea or that it wouldn't work. I was simply giving feedback about the video. I didn't find the first point convincing because not enough explanation was provided nor an alternative suggested. Now, you did that in your comment above. Thank you 🙂

@womackevans01

Жыл бұрын

@@ElearnerEngaged hmmm, that's given me some food for thought, thank you! If I understand correctly, fundamentally, you'd still be basing your costing on the provision of a product/deliverable(s) (vs. time-based) but you'd just be invoicing at pre-determined times over the timeline of the project instead of when something is delivered. Which does seem very wise in the context of agile and prototyping approaches, I hadn't considered that nuance.

About getting the money first before starting work.., if the client has signed a contract, isn't it safe enough to commence work anyway?

@JK2050J

Жыл бұрын

It's not. Because finance isn't the only commitment you need from clients as a freelancer. You need their commitment to giving you their time (SMEs) and resources.

@ElearnerEngaged

Жыл бұрын

Hey, great question! So contracts are for lawyers... and if the company says, "we need to put the project on hold" or "the stakeholder has been promoted and we're looking for someone to take over"... you can reply with "well, I have a contract" but the only recourse you have is to get your lawyer involved - which is for me, after doing this a couple of times out of the question. My lawyer charges $700 per hour... recouping the payment for the time I spent on a project would really dig into whatever I got in the end. That's why asking for the money up front is important. As a sidenote, if you get lawyers involved that takes the relationship to a different place and working with them again might not happen.. just sayin'.. so ask for the funds up front. There are no "standard procedures" in our world, so we can set our own.

@ElearnerEngaged

Жыл бұрын

@@JK2050J actually if their resources are not ready it's not an issue, if I am paid up front and they take their time lining up the people, that's on them. It's about not having to get lawyers involved, because most freelancers can't afford to battle an entire legal dept. :D

Mentorship makes all the difference 🫶

@creativewithgina

25 күн бұрын

PS - TODAY - I like a more focused gig, micro-interactions, come back for more. I help more people very efficiently, get half upfront and half when done. And something by a rate / hours to sustain minimal income needs. 15 years in the ball of yarn!