After Hours© 003

Welcome back to another edition of After Hours©, where we help you find a solution to a common self-employed-creative problem
 
Last week we spoke about the importance and difference of working on vs in the business. 

Today, we are covering a very important aspect of working on the business. 
 
Todays topic: Protecting your income and getting paid
Estimated read time: 6 minutes (Skim time: 90 seconds)

What kind of problem is this?

Protecting your income when you're self-employed is a Clarity problem. 

• What happens when you don't protect yourself?
• Payments get delayed, disputed, or withheld
• Work gets used without payment
• One month timelines turns into six
• You end up doing free revisions
• Clients disappear once files are delivered
• Your pricing gets questioned after the work is done

Read on for real life examples or skip the story and head to the solution section.

Think this won't happen to you? We were the same.

Our second client as Boring Studios did many things from that above list.

They used our work without paying us and they disputed the price after the work was complete. 
 
Eventually we got debt collectors and claimed back only half of what we were owed, six months later. This memory still annoys me.
 
A more recent story? Literally this week...
 
My family friend Kevin who is a Podcaster, had a deal with a very well known company. The deal was worth 30k (wowza). 
 
It involved him planning, filming and editing a few podcasts for this company. 
 
Kevin did the work and then sent the company watermarked versions of the final copies of the podcasts (the only smart thing he did in this whole process). 
 
The company then came back to Kevin and said "the quote was too high and we won't be paying you". 
 
Kevin has no leg to stand on. He had no system; no signed agreement, no scope outline, no client process.

Kevin is now -- sorry Kevin, there is no better word for this -- absolutely fucked.
 
When you're self-employed, especially if you are a creative, you're often not taken seriously.
 
How do we Protect your income, work, sanity and your talent?

The solution is having a System

System sounds like a scary, high-level word, right?

A system is just a process you follow.
 
With a system: 

• Pricing is agreed before work starts
• Work is only usable once payment is complete
• Projects have a clear end date
• Extra changes mean extra fees
• Clients are required to respond on time

And most importantly, systems give you leverage if something goes wrong.

What's in the system? (applicable to EVERY level):

• Proposal: outlines scope, pricing, and offer
• Client Agreement: formal contract and terms
• Invoice: request payment (deposit or upfront)
• Client Portal: central hub for communication, files, updates
• Onboarding: guides the client through first steps
• Offboarding: wraps up the project, hands over files, closes loop
  

Outcome:

• You look professional so you and your prices are taken seriously.
• You have a clear process to follow so you don't have to think about what you need every time.
• You're safeguarded against clients taking your work, taking advantage of you or not paying you.

How to make these

You can make these yourself or buy the ones we use here.
 
Here's what each document should include and why you need them: 
 
Your Proposal outlines:
- a clear scope for timelines, deliverables, package pricing and your offers. 

Why?
- to clearly outline what the client is getting.

Your Contract is a: 
formal contract and terms to be signed by both you and the client before any work is started.
Why?
to cement what the client is getting, your workflow process, how and where communication happens, what revisions are included, who owns the work before payment, what the client must provide (assets, feedback, access), what happens to unfinished work. 

Your Invoice is to:
- request payment (always get 50% upfront).
Why?
- to get paid and look professional to be taken seriously. 

Your Client Portal is a:
- personalised hub for your client and you to communicate, view and upload files and updates.
Why?
- to keep everything in one place and to look professional to be taken seriously. 

Your Client Onboarding document is to:
- guide the client through first steps; your process and client portal.
Why?
- to set boundaries and to look professional to be taken seriously.

Your Client Offboarding document is used to
- wrap up the project, hands over files, close the loop.
Why?
- to hand over assets, look professional, create recurring clients, get feedback and get referrals. 

This week you will

Make templates for the portal and documents to reuse for every client. 

Or take 20% off with code ‘After20’ for our ready-made ones. 
Link here.

Ensure you are clear with everything in your system to suit your business, boundaries, needs and processes.  

Rinse and repeat for all clients. 

--

You now have a process to follow so you don't need to spend time chasing payments, figuring out terms, building portals or negotiating with clients.
 
Instead, you will focus on making money and doing the work. 

Until next week,
 
Penelope 
Co-Founder of Boring Studios, Writer, Client-Red-flag Detector