Today's lesson is for all of you freelancers out there working for a living. CYA - cover your a$$.
Everyone knows that times are tough. Full-time jobs are hard to find in a lot of places and the competition in creative fields is fierce. Take copywriting, for example. Everybody wants to be a copywriter these days. Even displaced journalists have jumped on the copywriting bandwagon.
They're EVERYWHERE, they're everywhere.
The way that the average freelance writer, graphic artist, web designer, or copywriter works these days is this: He or She jumps online, checks out the job boards (like Upwork, Craig's List, or Online-Writing-Jobs.com), and submits a bid. The person who posted a job might be in your home town or located on the opposite side of the globe.
A smart freelancer never does any work without a contract. In addition, a smart freelancer asks for at least 50 percent of the job bid up front and waits for payment before starting to work on any project no matter how big or small. If the project is under $500, many freelancers want the entire fee up front. The balance is to be paid in exchange for the finished product, whatever that may be.
Here's where covering your ass becomes really important.
I know countless numbers of freelancers who have been stiffed after sending the client their finished project. They will have received the 50 percent up front (or whatever percentage that was agreed upon when they took the assignment); but, when it came time for final payment, the voice on the other end of the line goes dark.
That sound you are hearing right about then is crickets... yeah, loud and clear. You've been hosed.
Most of the copywriting and freelancing I used to do was in my own city. I had plenty of work to do and I received a lot of work by referral. It's a good idea to explore the potential for that in your home town. Seriously. People often get caught up in the whole Internet hype thing --there's money in them there ones and zeros. Yeah, cyber-space can be a gold mine, or a complete waste of time. That all depends on you.
The number of Internet scumbags has grown exponentially in recent years. It seems that people think nothing of robbing you of the hard-earned cash that you were promised when they have your work in their grubby little mitts. So, be warned. Don't turn over the final product until you have been given payment.
If there is something that someone can learn from the scenario above, it is this: A TON OF MONEY can be made for the SMART individual who develops a business that will allow the freelancer to deposit the finished product that will only be released when the buyer (the one who listed the job in the first place) deposits the payment. IS ANYONE LISTENING?
Some bright individual can contact me on this idea and, perhaps, we can put something together. But, trust me, if someone develops this it will forever change the way we do business and the days of people getting stiffed by someone they trusted will be over.
