A recent LinkedIn study claims that 43% of the US workforce will be made up of Freelancers by 2020. This means there are going to be a lot of new faces looking for work. If you’re new to the freelancing game, you may be wondering, “How do I get paid?”
There are several ways clients may want to pay you. However, getting ripped off is a thing. It does happen and is probably not talked about enough. This part is completely on you. You need to research and vet any potential clients in advance before doing work for them.
When it comes to clients that are slow paying, keep up with your invoices. Luckily for you, most online platforms like Upwork and Freelancer, have ways of extracting money from your clients and making sure you’re paid for the work you do. For this service, they charge a fee, usually 20% and sometimes more, sometimes less. It just depends on the platform.
You aren’t a debt collector and you shouldn’t have to play that role. So let’s make it easy on ourselves, shall we?
Stop Working
If you do some work for a client and they don’t pay you in a timely fashion, don’t do any more work for them. It’s as simple as that. If they request more work from you, make sure you’re paid for the work you’ve already done and possibly even request a deposit on future work.
Good intentions don’t pay bills and an invoice is no guarantee that you’re going to get paid.
When discussing and negotiating any terms with a new client, make sure you ask how you’re going to get paid. Make it easy on your client as well as yourself.
Paypal
This is the goto method of payment for most freelancers. In fact, 70% of US-based freelancers use and prefer Paypal as a method of payment.
It’s super fast, user-friendly, secure, and extraordinarily easy. You can transfer the money to an account or use Paypal to order things online, etc. When talking with a new client, if they want to pay you with Paypal, definitely agree to it. While it doesn’t guarantee anything, a client wanting to pay you with Paypal, at the very least, suggests they’ve worked with freelancers before and they know the deal, which is a good sign for you.
Paypal even offers free goodies for freelancers, such as this invoice template you can create and send out to clients. Does it get any easier than this?
As you can tell, we’re Paypal fanboys here at WFH Office. But to be fair, there are other ways you can accept money as a freelancer.
Checks
While this form of payment isn’t ideal, some businesses, especially those in what’s called “high risk” types of industries, may prefer this option. As long as the check clears, it’s fine.
You can see more info on that here.
Electronic Funds Transfer
This is a bank-to-bank transfer. It’s pretty quick and easy to do as long as both banks offer the option. It’s essentially a “direct deposit” option.
Our issue is that you have to really trust a client. We don’t like having our bank account numbers floating around on the web, which is why Paypal is such a great option.
Conclusion
When in doubt, go with Paypal. It’s just too easy not to use it. Freelancing is not just growing, it’s growing rapidly and now is a great time to research and get involved.
It’s one of the few platforms that recognizes the value of freelancers and they’re way more accommodating than anything else.
And remember, if they aren’t paying you, you aren’t working. Try and get money upfront as a deposit and invoice frequently.
If you have any questions, comments, or stories about getting paid, feel free to share them below.
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