[newsletter]
Anyone out there who has done freelance work or works as a project manager probably has come across some issues with clients not paying you for your work.
We went in another direction.
We decided not to use the items.
We have brought in a new designer with a different vision.
We can’t pay you because our clients haven’t paid us.
F*ck you. Pay me. I have had far too many issues in this category. Most were my fault for one essential reason: I didn’t have a contract in place to protect me. I have learned this too many times, and I am amazed at how easily it is to get involved with another client and not have a contract on the table. It astounds me. No matter what the project is – whether I am freelancing as a camera guy or signed on to edit a feature film – there has to be guidelines. If I enter into something and I haven’t laid out the boundaries, that means I can’t cry foul if by unknown boundaries are crossed.
No matter how much “art” I want to place on myself or my work, what I do is ultimately business. In business, you set up guidelines for working, guidelines for accomplishments, and guidelines for payments. If you don’t set up these guides in the beginning, it becomes a game of Who Has The Bigger Steamroller. Usually the person with the money that didn’t pay you has that bigger steamroller in one of two fashions: a lawyer or time. You will either be intimidated by the legal side of things and have it cost you more to try to recover your lost pay, or they wait you out…and you go away.
I have had too many of these. Some I had my ass covered by a contract, but even then I didn’t get anything back. However, it is good to have this in place because of one specific reason. You see, the projects that were covered by contracts where so small in pay that it wasn’t worth it to go after these folks. I wasn’t going to work with any aspect of them anyway because they were dishonorable dicks. I could let it go because the price was enough for me to have learned a lesson, so that when the big projects come in, the twenty or thirty thousand dollar projects, I will be ready to have a contract submitted that will cover my ass and assure both me and the client that the best work possible will be done on time and on budget.
For your viewing pleasure, I give you Mike Monteiro of Mule Design Studios talking about this subject:
I truly loved The beauty of the phrase “F*ck You. Pay Me.” – Galaxy Sailor Productions. An interesting dialogue is value comment. I think that it’s best to write extra on this matter, it won’t be a taboo topic but usually people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers Agile Marketing Solutions, LLC 2905 East Point Street, Suite 91784, Atlanta, GA 30344 (404) 939-5631
ahhh yes. My son is a webmaster – we have heard those words, and more, many times. At one point my boss (ex) had my son do a website, only to later tell him that that wasnt what they wanted or wanted to pay. Unfortunately for him (the ex boss) my son had a contract and I was the accountant. Other times he hasn’t been so lucky – but yes…always a contract!
Ah, doing spec work. I don’t do spec work because more times then not what happens it you do it, they don’t like it, don’t pay you, take the concept, do it in house, and you get nothing. I love that system!