9 Invoicing Tips for Freelancers to Get Paid
How do you stay on top of your invoices? | Photo via Unsplash
As a freelancer, one of the most frustrating things is not getting paid on time. Dealing with a late payer is terrible, primarily when your security depends on these payments. Nobody likes to ask for money or chase clients.
Freelancing also means that time spent chasing money is time lost, where you could be working.
So, here are some top tips for invoicing for helping you get paid - and quicker.
1. Always research into a client
Before you even start working with a client, you need to research them. See who they are and their reputation.
Go onto their social media platforms, see what people are saying about them or the image they put across.
Also, check out forums or Facebook groups and see what past employees and freelancers say about them. If there are multiple complaints about payments, deadlines, or work, you might want to consider searching elsewhere.
Getting to know your client will help you avoid headaches and annoyances before you even start working.
Remember, it's also a red flag if you can't find anything about them online. While you might want to take the risk, you should always be careful— in cases like this, you could try to get paid first to avoid any issues.
2. Automation
Technology will always be a freelancer's best friend. Investing in an invoicing tool will help you save time, and also ensure you never forget to ask for a payment.
These will send invoices immediately to your client and notify you when you have a payment receipt.
You could also break down the projects that you complete into smaller chunks, this will help with your cash flow and also looks a lot less intimidating to a client.
Don't worry, if you're not ready to spend money on an invoicing app just yet, you can use free invoice templates or free tools.
3. Add payment terms
Be very clear about all of your payment terms with your clients, this will avoid any confusion in the future.
Always include the due date, finance charges for late payments, and the preferred payment method.
The finance charge for late payments is an excellent incentive for clients to pay you on time so make sure that you include this. A good rule of thumb is giving your clients 2 weeks to make a payment.
Payment terms also add an air of professionalism to your services - something that many brands and companies do not automatically give freelancers.
4. Include all of your business information
The truth is, many people don't look at freelancers as a company but they are. They’re a company and run their own finances, their own sales, and project manage their own products.
For this reason, you should add all of your business information to your invoices, to reiterate the point that this is your business and that a freelancer should be paid and treated the same as any other company.
Always add:
Your name
Tax ID
Your address
Company name and address (if applicable)
Your number or Skype ID
Contact email
Contact phone number
5. Add detail to the invoice
As we mentioned earlier, it's a great idea to split projects up into smaller chunks.
This will help your cash flow and hopefully will ensure that you get paid on time. With this in mind, you have to make everything clear on your invoice to avoid confusion and delays.
Rather than merely writing "design" or "article," you should be a little more specific.
The more detail, the better, especially if it's a regular client that needs multiple services. For instance, "web development for the landing page."
This also helps your clients and their accountants.
6. Notify clients about extra charges
If your client asks for work out of the project scope, always let them know that they will be charged more. That's only fair.
If you hit them with a surprise invoice for extra work, it could get messy, and you may be waiting incredibly long for payments.
Notify them immediately, before you even start the work. This will allow your client to decide if they want you to go forward with the job, and are happy with the payment.
If you don't let them know, you may decrease your chances of getting paid, and it will make your client quite angry.
7. Give estimates
If it's a long project, you should give proposals and estimates to your clients about how much it will be.
Include costs for delivery, revisions, and deadlines - and anything else that may be relevant.
This will ensure that your client is happy with the costs, and will be glad to make the payment when the final invoice comes their way.
You can also refer to this when talking to your client about the invoice.
You can get quote templates for free online, that can also easily be converted into an invoice for later.
8. Follow up
Don't send your invoice and leave it, always let your client know that you sent it.
“Remember to let them know about the invoice due date, and even contact them a few days before the due date just to remind them. It's always better to be safe than sorry. Don't worry about "pestering," it's very reasonable for companies to chase up money and invoices.” — Estelle Leotard, freelance writer at Best Essay.
9. Be friendly
It always helps to be sympathetic to your clients, this will help with building a relationship and getting paid.
Learn their names, ask them about their day, and involve them in every step of the project.
If you can, always contact the right person about the invoice, through a phone call or text message. This will eliminate the "email didn't come through" excuse.
Always be helpful and friendly to your clients, and they'll more than likely return the favor.
The wrap-up
The truth is, chasing payments will always be a little tricky for freelancers. However, the tips above will help you ensure that you get paid and on time.
If you find that a client isn't paying you for your projects, then you should grind all the work to a halt. Legal action may be required for no payments, which makes prevention all the more important.
Being a freelancer can hard, but being proactive, open, and detailed in your invoices can help safeguard for any confusion later.
Guest writer Bridgette Hernandez is a Master in Anthropology who is interested in writing and is planning to publish her own book in the near future. Now she is a content editor at WoWGrade. She works with professional writing companies such as GrabMyEssay and Studicus as a writer. The texts she writes are always informative, based on a qualitative research but nevertheless pleasant to read.