Hi Reader,

Happy Friday!

I've had a relaxing week after the launch of The Promo Playbook. I've had a couple of discovery calls, a chat with a fellow freelancer, and have booked in most of my work for August now (hoping to take a couple of days off at the end of the month for my birthday).

How has your week been? Can you believe it's August?!

Here's what I've been up to this week:

👉 I wrote 4 pieces for clients (including Circuit, Experlogix, and SimpleTexting)

👉 I refreshed one piece for Shopify

👉 I edited 2 pieces

⏱ Approx hours spent on client work this week: ~18

⏱ Approx hours spent on non-client work: ~2

💰 Total revenue this week: £4,070

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Friday Freelance Tip​​ ✨ ​

I’ve had two invoicing issues this week that I want to talk about.

1. The “I’m not ready to pay” situation

I worked on a strategy for a client back in May and sent them the finished deliverable in mid-June. I hadn’t heard anything back from them, but knew they were in the middle of a big rebrand so gave them the benefit of the doubt.

I always invoice 50% upfront for strategy projects, so I already had that under my belt. But, as a month had passed, I sent a quick note to let them know I’d be invoicing for the final 50% this week.

Lo-and-behold, I get the quickest response ever (who knew talking about money would get an instant reply?!). They questioned what I was invoicing for because they hadn’t had a chance to look through the strategy yet. After one month. After our contract had ended (it was a six-week contract).

I explained the situation and they said they’d pay up, but to avoid this situation again in the future, here’s what I’m going to do:

• Add a clause to my contract that states payment must be made within a month of the contract ending (to avoid clients not paying until they’ve reviewed the materials… even if that takes them six months)
• Send the final invoice with the final deliverable (with a note stating revision windows—one week—and my usual payment terms of 30 days)
• Stating more clearly in my proposal how the payment structure works with content strategy projects. I probably could have been clearer about when I invoice

2. The “really long payment terms” situation

I had a great call with a potential new client yesterday. They seem awesome and have big plans—-I’m excited to work with them.

During our call, they mentioned they had a payment structure that might be a dealbreaker.

Cue stomach sinking.

Turns out, they have a Net-60-day payment term. For those not in the know, this means freelancers won’t get paid until 60 days AFTER they invoice. If I complete work in August and invoice at the end of August, I won’t get paid for it until the end of October.

It’s wild.

But I like the client and the project sounds fun. At this time in my business, my cash flow is pretty good and I have enough bumph in my bank account to withstand a 60-day payment term for the right project.

But I still pushed back, because the last thing I want is to write 4 pieces and not get paid for them.

Here’s what I suggested:

• Payment for the first piece upfront
• Payment for the first piece immediately after submission with a 60-day term after that
• Writing one piece, invoicing for it, and waiting 60 days for payment until I write another piece

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My thought process is that I need to know the client will pay before I commit my time and effort to a substantial project. Working on one piece is still effort, but not as much as, say, four or eight pieces over two months.

I want to know the client will pay and what their processes are like in general. After the first piece, we might realise we’re not a good fit, and that’s fine—but at least I won’t have to wait 60 days to get paid.

Invoicing is a headache for many freelancers, but it’s also the gateway to getting paid. I’m willing to be flexible with clients and can stretch to their demands (as long as they’re reasonable), but here are some ways I make it easier for myself:

• I send all my invoices at the end of the month so I’m not trying to keep track of multiple invoices at multiple different stages
• I send one invoice per client, not one invoice per piece (for the same reason as above)
• I ask for all invoicing information and protocol upfront so I’m not scrambling to fill out W8-BEN-Es the day I’m supposed to be invoicing. I always ask for PO numbers, company address, point of contact, and invoicing processes when I send my contract (I have a checklist for this in Workflow Wizard)
• I use an invoicing tool that keeps track of late payments and sends automated reminders to clients who have a due date coming up
• Even if a client asks me to use their invoicing platform, I’ll always create an invoice in my own platform for my records (and for my accountant!)

This week, we have a diary from Peggy Downs — an expert grant writer.

Where are you based? Colorado, US 🇺🇸

How long have you been freelancing? 6 years

What do you do? I mostly write grants for schools and nonprofits

What was your 2023 revenue? $50,000

Peggy freelances full-time and it was her highest earning year.

How much did you take as a salary? $40,000

Basically everything after expenses.

How much did you pay in taxes? $9,500

What are your business expenses? About $1,000/mo

I also spent $500 on subcontractors.

Do you contribute to a pension? No.

Do you have any hot money-management tips?

Profit First. Last year was the first year I could live off my freelance income. This year I’ve already met last year’s income.

As always, happy freelancing :)

Lizzie ✨

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