Comments on: Freelancer’s Survival Guide: Money, Part 7

By: cindie

cindie — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:40:07 +0000

In 12 years I’ve only had to take one client to collections. (an amazingly painless process/. The irony is his book was an inspirational book about integrity. He still does very well on the speechifying circuit. Still pisses me off.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:41:02 +0000

Thanks for the eye-opening posts, Kris. I know I’d need to be tough, but you provide the nuts and bolts of how to do it.

By: Kris

Kris — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:01:41 +0000

Hi, Erika. Sorry you had to go through that. Unfortunately, that’s how most of us learn how to be tough. We get burned. My theory is this: I don’t make the same mistake twice. Once is fine. Twice is bad. I’ll always make other mistakes. The other problem with being tough is that we’re supposed to be polite and easy-going. I can be polite and tough now–one of the benefits of my Midwestern upbringing, I think. But I do know that tough is the thing that’ll keep my biz alive.

By: Kris

Kris — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:59:36 +0000

Thanks, Robin. And thanks, Carolyn, for the templates. Great stuff.

By: Erika

Erika — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:37:54 +0000

As someone who’s been freelancing for about a year (past the beginner stage, but not yet in the “experienced” category) this is the money post I’ve been waiting for! WOW I wish I could have read this about nine months ago, it would have saved me a lot of heartache and financial problems.

HEED THIS ARTICLE. Bad and horrible clients promise the moon, but the only thing that matters is cash in hand. Don’t let yourself get wheedled into working for a bad or horrible client while their bill piles up. I got burned pretty badly, and I count it as being my own fault for not having been tougher.