I didn't get paid by my design clients 😢 - Freelancer problems
Pathange Balaji Rao
7 replies
A lot of beginner design freelancers don't get paid for their work or get delayed by a lot of time.
It happened with me :(
This not just happens to beginners in freelancing I have seen this happen some proficient freelancers.
Design is visual so we can always get approvals on the final design from the client. But when to comes to the handoff of the design files, it's difficult to trust them especially if you haven't even taken an advance for the project.
If the client gets the file beforehand and he decides not to pay you for whatever reason or delays to pay.
I understand, this is one of the most vulnerable spot for a freelancer to be in. You have delivered the project but you keep following up for your payments, which you don't know of when it will hit your bank account.
I am brainstorming on a vault like product to tackle this exact use-case.
Would love to know your feedback and suggestions
Replies
Ayaz Qureshi@ayaz_qureshi1
As a freelance product designer i have face this situation.
It hurts and sucks, i know!!!
But how vault will solve this problem, sites like upwork/fiverr and payment providers like PayPal already have escrow system.
Yet i see this happen often b/c these systems supports buyer as they are bringing money in.
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@ayaz_qureshi1 Can we also use upwork/fiverr for clients that you find from other sources?
use a contract, or some middleman service- even upwork/fiverr is good so you don't get burned for your work.
@balaji_rao1 yes absolutely. it's even better in the long run if you want to use fiverr/upwork in the future to find clients as you would build up your reviews on it. I forget how much the client pays fiverr, and not sure how much they take from the freelancer, but if they do charge a fee to the client you can price that in for your client so you eat the small loss- so they don't complain or have any reason to do it because it might cost an extra few bucks.
Also- Even if you aren't using a middleman or platform like fiverr/upwork, there should be no reason whatsoever for you to spend source files without any type of payment. You're the designer, you just did all that work for them, the design is no good for you- not like you can just sell it to someone else really. So if they want files before payment, BIG red flag. Just show them the work with each page/design watermarked to the teeth across the whole design. Shows you have the completed design and ready for payment to send files.
These are the following mistakes by freelance designers that may cause problems
1.Inability to Meet Deadlines
2.Poor Communication
3.Borrowing Other Designs
4.Full Work Load
5.Not Keeping Up With Current Trends
6.Using Too Many Fonts and Grammatical Errors
7.Poor Organization
8.Not Understanding a Client and Their Funding Limits