Ask HN: Freelancers, what is a story of you not getting paid?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23633428

by PodCurator • 6 years ago

2 1 6 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

tj0• 6 years ago

I have a couple. Both were from before I stepped into web development, and was a graphic designer.

The first has to do with Fiverr -- most freelancers are aware of the waste of time this platform is now. It was new when I started freelancing.

I landed a client, and had done a few small things for her over the period of a couple months. She always paid, so there was some trust in the relationship.

She was spinning up a new business and needed a logo for it. Being new, needing to build my portfolio and referrals, I spent hours sketching concepts, getting feedback, and finally rendering the logo. I provided the vector files to her for review, and poof. Ghosted.

Sure, it was $5, but it was the ego hit. How could a small business owner turn around and screw another fledgling entrepreneur like that?

Lesson learned, no one ever receives final deliverables until payment is received.

The second was a bit more nefarious. I had done some custom digital frames for a local photographer. The contract was for a decent amount of money, and like before, I spent significant time on completing the work. After providing watermarked versions for review, the client snail mailed a check. Upon receipt, I assumed sure, it'll go through so I emailed the final deliverables. A few days later, I went to cash the check and it had been cancelled.

Luckily, that second one led to me leaning on a contract I'd put together -- I sent the client multiple invoices, and eventually sent him a final notice stating going forward, every day of late payment would accrue 15% interest on top of the final balance. 30 days of this late fee would nearly double the original balance.

I received a nastily worded letter, and full payment at the end of it, but again, learned another valuable lesson.

Sadly, both these experiences pushed me out of freelancing. Too much stress, there's never any down time, and frankly, clients can be a PITA.

Ask HN: Freelancers, what is a story of you not getting paid?

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