Invoices that get paid on time, what each payment method actually costs, and what to do when a client goes quiet.
The freelancer losing “almost 7% of all my earnings to PayPal as fees” is neither exaggerating nor being overcharged. PayPal’s published rate is 3.49% plus a fixed fee. Everything between that number and seven per cent is a second, third and fourth charge that no comparison article adds up, because comparison articles stop at the…
Sometimes, and three separate rule sets all have to permit it. Most freelancers only ever hear about one of them. Before state law becomes relevant at all, the contract you accepted when you opened the account may already have decided it — PayPal’s User Agreement says, in a section headed “No surcharges”, that you will…
The number a landlord ends up judging you on is line 31 of your Schedule C — net profit — not the money your clients actually sent you. On a $96,000 year with $31,000 of deductions, the figure that gets measured against the rent is $65,000. Everything else about proving freelance income follows from that…
Most late fee calculators give you one number. The problem is that the clause on your invoice supports four, and the gap between them on a $4,000 invoice is thirty-five percent. This one shows all four, so you can see which reading your contract is actually claiming. Below: where the four numbers come from, and…
A German client owes you 2,000 EUR. Depending on how they send it, between $2,119 and $2,311 lands in your account. That is a $192 spread on one invoice, and most of it is not the fee. It is the exchange rate. The fee you see is not the fee you pay Every cross-border payment…
A late fee is collectible only if it was in the signed agreement before the work started. You cannot add one in month two. The usual clause is 1.5% a month, which is 18% a year. On a $4,000 invoice 45 days late that comes to $88.77. Write the clause in anyway. Just do not…
An invoice gets paid when the person holding the checkbook can process it without asking you a question. That is the entire test. Nine blocks pass it. Who you are, a unique invoice number, the date you sent it, and a due date written as a real calendar date. Then their reference number, the line…
Send the first message before the invoice is due, not after. Timing does more work here than wording ever will. A note on day 22 of a Net 30 reads as helpful, because nothing is wrong yet. The same sentences on day 35 read as a complaint, and the client hears an accusation instead of…
Ask for 50% before you start. Not mainly because the money is better in your account than in theirs, though it is. Ask because of what it does to the client. A stranger who has paid you nothing is deciding, quietly, every week, whether this project still deserves their attention. A client who has already…
Net 30 means the balance is due 30 days after the invoice date. Net 15 means fifteen. Due on receipt means now. Pick whichever you like — but the number is not where your money leaks out. The send date is. A Net 30 you send a week after you finish the work is a…