Five Tips Guarantee Payment from Clients, Freelancers

Like I promised you will read on how to combat non-paying clients, here is the blog.

Many newbie professionals freelance and often get stiffed on payment in the beginning. It is common and frustrating for small-time business owners. You may feel unappreciated, worn down, creates self-doubt.

You may think getting stiffed may be because ‘you are a newbie and do not have a business mind’, or ‘your work is not good’. Mind you, it is because you let someone take advantage of you.

Ann Landers once said ‘No one can take advantage of you without your consent,’

It is time to analyze the situation and rectify it. If you are a professional the opposite party must see it in everything you do.

Analyze your situation

If you have been ripped off several times, it is time for a ‘Check’. Analyze everything that’s happening-

1.    Are you delivering what is required of you?

2.    Do you meet deadlines?

3.    Do you have return clients?

4.    Are you professional?

If any of these are negative, it is time to change the way you do things. The most important thing is to learn from mistakes. Change your approach if you want to continue freelancing.

If all of these pointers are positive, you just need to implement right work and pricing principles. No one needs a business mind to get paid for their work.

Avoid getting ripped off again by implementing payment policies and a contract. Ask for a deposit and for the balance amount at completion before you submit the work.

Get a good boilerplate contract template for your business. Send the contract and ask the client to sign and return. It will not only set you as a professional but also establish a great working relationship with your client.

The psychology behind asking for a deposit

When you ask for a deposit, the client views you as professional with payment policies in place. They will respect you and your work. This will set the right expectations. This lets them know the way you work. The deposit binds the client without which there is no commitment from the client for the project.

Ethically, 30% deposit is good. You must mention this to all your clients, a deposit is

required to get started on the project, even if they are close relatives. It may sound a little strange, however, you will get used to it.

If the client is not ready for a deposit, do not commit your time when they are not ready to commit to the project, only the serious ones will. This weeds out the non-paying clients.

When they do not make a deposit, let them know you will start only after they pay. Be professional and friendly by telling them they can call when they are ready.

Some clients may give you other excuses like - ‘they do not have the money now’ (and may never have it).

Some clients may not wish to pay a deposit; it is wise to avoid working with them. You can let them know they can contact you when they are ready to pay a deposit.

In some industries, if you have been working for less than 2 years, you may need to prove yourself. If you have been in the industry for more than 5 years, the clients can call your references. You don’t have to prove your worth and ability.

Learning from mistakes

Here is a simple guideline you can follow, so you can always get paid:

1.    Include the pricing in your Email and allow leeway to add in case of change in scope

2.    In case, you work with some materials subject to change or a change in your situation may lead to higher prices, add a date of validity on the price and ‘subject to change’ clause

3.    Begin working after you receive deposit from the client

4.    Send frequent updates to the client

5.    When you complete the project, send them a draft or a snapshot so they can arrange for the final payment

No freelancer would want to work hard and not get paid neither do you want to lose potential work. It is better to implement solutions, policies and avoid getting ripped off, ever again.

Freelancers Identify Your Non-Paying Clients Better & Get Your Money - Part 2

You slogged, met your client’s deadline, sent an invoice and an email. 

All you received in response is a short note saying - ‘Thank you for the work, we will get back to you’ Or ‘You will receive your payment soon. Thank you’

It's been ages since that note arrived and still no sign of that paycheck. Here is what you can do.

Tips to get your Money Back

• Write a friendly E-Mail reminder – Your Email must state:

1. The reason you are contacting (obviously, your pay is pending)
2.  Let them know the project is complete
3.  Ask them if there is anything they need
4.  Ask them when they will pay
5.  Ask them if they need a copy of the invoice

Usually, you will get the response. 

In case you do not, and if it is an on-going project with a monthly remuneration then stop work till you get paid unless the contract states otherwise. Let them know in any case, do not let the amount accumulate, you may not get paid ever. So, look for newer clients.

• Make a call – If you do not get any response to your Email, then get on a call with them. You will hear some sob story which you can ignore but wait till you hear when you can expect the pay.

• Go up the ladder – If you can connect with the Editor or Content Manager or even the Accounting Department. You can try the CFO.

• Charge 2%- 5% late fee – Resubmit a bill/ invoice with 2 - 5% late fee each month until the amount is paid. This shakes up the client a little and does the trick as the client will not want to pay a higher amount if they drag the matter.
  The client will not sit on the bill forever, knowing fully well that they will have to face the consequence and that you will not go away without the pay.

5.   Damage reputation in social media – Tweeting and Shaming the Client online often leads to a rapid response as every company is paranoid about social media reputation. However, keep it professional and factual. Do not be rude and no name calling as it may have an opposite effect.

In my next blog, you will read about ways you can avoid being ripped off, so stay tuned. Till then write in about your experiences and the way you tackled the situation.

Adios until then.

Freelancers Identify Your Non-Paying Clients Better & Get Your Money - Part 1

This is a very common scenario, most freelancers face even today, especially when they start freelancing. A large number of Artists, Designers, Content writers, Creative writers and many others face the same issue until they get wise.

You slogged to meet your client’s deadline, sent an invoice or an email and all you receive in response is a ‘Thank you for the work, we will get back to you.’ Or ‘You will receive your payment soon. Thank you’

You keep hoping, trusting and waiting, all in vain. When I started my career as a freelancer, I had to run for my money, many times, sometimes the client would cancel the contract and not pay for the work done or ask me to wait for the payment. I lost approximately $1000, over a period of 3 years with several clients.

Today, I am wiser.

Understand Your Clients

It is important to understand your non-paying or late paying client. There are 4 types of Non-paying clients:

Intentionally Non-paying Clients

They have reasonable explanations for not paying on time because of the cash flow. Usually, they inform in advance that they will not pay you immediately after you submit the work.

You can deal with them by suggesting they pay installments. Confirm the payment dates in writing and contact them a day before they are scheduled to make a payment.

You may also withhold the copyright until the payment is made. Your client will not be able to make public until you received payment.

You can hold them for violating your copyright.

Unhappy Non-paying Clients

These clients are unhappy with your work and will hold the payment till the issues are resolved.

If it was an error on your part, work it out by adjusting the payment schedule as well as accept the payment with a price-cut if you wish to work with them again in future.

If you did not estimate the cost initially, and see the scope expanding the project. Send in a revised proposal, get it in writing, so you have proof of an agreement, since a client may forget in the process.

If the client is unhappy unreasonably then it could just be a lack of communication, try working on the communication gap.

Swerving Non-payers

These clients have never paid any freelancer. They are crooks and small time clients who do not wish to pay for work done.

These clients simply look for fresh freelancers most of the time.

Non-Paying Mega-Corporate Clients

Many Megacorps have a 60 - 120 days’ pay cycle as policy. They maintain such cycles to ensure good cash-flow. You may not be able to negotiate a better pay cycle or do anything about it.

Most freelancers deal with such pay cycles by making sure they have smaller clients on short schedules.

Surely, you have had at least one such client. You must have a way to deal with all kinds of clients. In my next blog, you will read about ways of combatting such Non-paying clients, so stay tuned. Till then Write/ Share your experiences and the way you tackled the situation.

Adios until then.

11 Ways You can Make Working From Home Easy

Many people including professionals are turning to a different style of working. This is only to maintain a healthier balance between work and life. Working from home or freelancing. If working from home in pajamas or any place other than an office sounds fun, it must be fruitful enough.
Success comes when we see and know our goals. We understand the obstacles, are ready to clear uncertainties and self-doubt. Create a positive image, embrace any trials to stay on the path and show it to the world that it is possible.

As a freelancer, here is my secret to be productive, maintain a healthy work-life balance. Moreover, be successful.

Get an early start

You may be transitioning from the ‘9-to-5’ world for a ‘work from home’ routine so wake up early. Get to work right away, this will give you a head start. The other benefits are being hands-on, anticipating issues, and becoming a better planner. Moreover, it will help you squeeze in some time for exercise.

Plan your day ahead

You have 24 hours, make good use of your day by planning.Set calculated goals to stay focused and fruitful.

• Plan the time you will check and answer emails, make a to-do list for the daily tasks to complete, and manage breaks.
• When you limit the number of times you check emails, you will limit disturbances. This will ensure productivity and efficiency.
• When working on a lengthy project, planning the week in advance, creates an improved work environment.

Make sure you dedicate time to a family union at lunch and dinner to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Grab this opportunity to interact and distribute household chores among family members. You can choose to distribute it to your house-help.

Avoid the risk of a lower output, and burning out. Motivate yourself and prepare to put in hard work to complete all the tasks.

Dedicated Work Space

You may want to pretend to drive to work, so set up a work space far away from the bedroom. It could be a silent corner of your house.

If household chores or silence are distracting, you can choose a different location. Choose a local coffee shop with WiFi, as your ‘work-space’. Many people prefer a virtual work environment.

Cut distractions

Distraction can lower your efficiency, especially, when you have access to social media. You may feel the itch to click on the buttons or apps without the intention of creating a distraction. Delete the social network bookmarks on the toolbar.

Let neighbors, friends and family know, you are working from home. Avoid accepting requests to run chores and favors for friends or family. You can achieve higher levels of efficiency; distractions will only hamper work efficiency.

Delegate work

Household chores, pets, toddlers can all be distractions. If you have a house-help, delegate the chores at the beginning of the day. If you have team members, reduce the workload by delegating tasks. You can get them to do initial research or manage your calendar.

Cut distraction by making sure everyone knows, you are working. This will help you to complete the tasks faster. You can even choose a different work-space or a time when these distractions are minimal.

Make the right commitment

You must make the right commitment or choose to over commit. Both the techniques will help you stay focused and deliver the required, but you must know what works. This will keep you away from distractions and avert your urge to do other tasks.

Know your productive hours

We all have certain hours as the most productive ones, use them to the utmost. If you are a night owl (like me), finish most of the work during those hours and plan your day with other activities.

During your work hours, know what triggers efficiency. Sometimes, instead of coffee, music may trigger it. When you are low on the energy, turn up some music to pump you up. Play good music or your favorite playlist to boost your energy level for a particular task. Try different things.

Make use of the time management technique called Pomodoro technique. You can make the most of the 25 minutes; be creative, efficient, and productive and then a five-minute break.

If you are an early bird, work your way through the utmost important projects at that time. You can use afternoons for meetings and calls. As a working mother of a toddler, I need to be super-productive. I utilize the time when my kid is taking a nap, or playing on his own.

Making use of the technology to stay connected

Technology has found ways to enable us to work from home. With help from tools and apps, we can stay connected and productive.
Tools like Google Hangouts, Skype, WebEx come handy in holding meetings. Create to-do lists, along with deadlines. When you have the right tools, you must change your work style; be creative and efficient.
You can even make use of the cloud technology to share work. They have features that enable you to track work progress of assistants and inform yours.

Track your savings

Make use of spreadsheets to detail all the savings and expenses. Include all expenses like fuel, laundry, clothes, lunches, coffees, and others. This will motivate and make you productive when you work from home. You can do this if you work for someone else, or if you run your own business.

Stay in touch with colleagues

Many people feel lonely and detached while working from home. When working from home as well as office, try visiting the office, once or twice a week. The rest of the weekdays you can work from home.

This will help you remain connected to the team, especially while working on a project as a team member.

Escape a humdrum lifestyle

This is a major obstacle. Even though you are working from home to save time and money, move out of the house to get some fresh air. This will keep you active, healthy, productive and motivated.

Make sure you attend events, conferences, training sessions to keep growing. You must update yourself with the latest trends. This will help you put forward fresh ideas and perceptions in meetings as well as in work.

The biggest secret

Work from home lifestyle requires effort to make it work for you, as it is more about ‘You’. Challenges often crush the independent lifestyle and the transition may remain incomplete.

Make use of your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. Learn from it and realize them more as opportunities for growth. You will grow stronger to tackle them as they appear.

Hope you found these ways useful. I will be glad to hear from you if you have any other way to make work-from-home life easier. Do share it in the comments section.

6 Overlooked Marketing Channels For Remarkable Results

In my previous post, you read about the different ways you can repackage your content and reach out to the audience.

Content marketers will agree to the fact that content is king and communicating with customers is the bloodline of their business. However, content always does not mean words in the form of articles or blogs. There are several other forms of content – video, lists, guides etc.

It is important to test numerous ways to communicate with the audience through different channels. Though there is a risk factor, yet experimenting with content will teach many new things in return about the audiences’ preferences –

• What your audience responds to – this is important, if you create content that your audience does not like then you will see no returns.

• What your audience wants to see – this is vital, offer your audience what they wish to know.

• About your authority and approach – once you see the response to your content, you will be able to hold authority and know about your approach and build strategies.

Here are a few content marketing methods worth giving a shot, if you have not done so yet.

1. Create fun Listicles with invaluable, insightful, unique information relevant to your business products and services. Showcase your expertise with the help of these lists.
2. Create live video streams with messages to your customers about your business. They would like to hear straight from the horse’s mouth. Get your message across in an effective and a personalized way.
3. Identify your audience as well as your spin-off audience. Know your audiences’ demographics, you will be able to identify other audiences and groups with different demographics, may be interested in your products or services, those you had overlooked.
4. Watch out for traffic on different sites where the numbers are huge and attract them with your content that may be related to these websites.
5. Exploit LinkedIn and other social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit rather than just Twitter and Facebook. Post valuable business-related information on LinkedIn or images on Pinterest. Snapchat is becoming popular these days as a social media platform to reach out to Millennials.
6. Locate your target audience on different social media platform using an amazing resource called Buzzsumo to attract them. Once you know the response related to your business, the content that is popular and on which social media; you can create your profile and start promoting your business.

Try these content marketing tips and see which ones work for you. These channels are often overlooked, working different kinds of content often catches the audiences’ attention and interest.

You may fail, you may succeed, but will know by taking an imperfect step, towards success. If you have any other channels that have worked for you, do share in the comments.

11 Amazing Ways to Repackage/ Repurpose Your Content to Drive Traffic

We have all heard of an old saying – “Old is Gold”, now it is time to put it into action. If your website has been around for a while with lots of old content, it is time to re-purpose the old content in a new way, churn it and reap benefits.

There is a 90/10 Rule you must follow, promote content 90% of the time and spend 10% of the time writing. It is difficult to come up with an idea to write new content all the time, so here are a few ways to rewrite them. Share and market the content in new ways on the social media and get the conversions you are looking for.

Why re-purpose old (evergreen) content?

1.    Helps you reach a new audience

2.    Great content must never be forgotten

3.    Each content deserves a second chance at promotion

4.    Content deserves a new life

Here is a list of 11 ways to drive website traffic to conversion.

1.   Video format

If your old post was mostly text create a video on the same topic. The video will enhance the quality of the blog post. Post and promote the video on YouTube, Facebook, Email newsletters, on other social media platforms.

2.   Listicle format

It is often easier to write everything in the form of lists as they are short and easy. Categorize your content and list all the article titles include a link and a synopsis of the original posts in your Listicle.

3.   Infographic format

People prefer infographics as they are an easy way to digest more information in a visual graphic format rather than text. You can take the help of various infographic tools like Canva Infographic Maker, Vizualize, Google Developers, Easel.ly, Piktochart, Infogr.am, InFoto Free. Make sure you brand your newly created infographic.

4.   SlideShare presentation

SlideShare Presentations are a great opportunity to educate people in the form of slide presentations. The slides are often backed with stats, images, and graphs and talk about only the most important things. Copy the embed code of the SlideShare presentation on your blog.

5.   Email format

Send emails to your followers and include your old blog posts. Make sure you add appropriate updates to your email so that all new and old followers are reminded of your valuable content. This will keep subscribers coming back for more engaging content.

6.   Podcast format

Read your blog post, record it and use it in a podcast. The podcast is easy and an inexpensive way to reach out to people who are occupied in a way like driving or cooking. You can reach out to voice-over artists to read the article if you do not have a good voice.

7.   E-book format

Find related content, interviews and compile it into an e-book where each post will be one chapter. Compile interviews to formulate an e-book on expert advice. Make it attractive and upload it to Amazon, give it away free or sell it.

8.   Social media posts

If you have evergreen content, repost the content on social media as often as two to three months. Do not let your content die out; refresh and re-share the content, it will sell like hotcakes.

9.   Guide format

If you have some topics you have written a lot about consider compiling it in the form of a newly updated guide. Present it to your audience as “A Complete Guide To…” and see the increase in traffic on your website.

10.  Webinar format

A great way to re-purpose content is in form of a webinar. Since you already have good content, promote the webinar effectively, so you’ll have a good number of attendees.

11.  Newsletter

Collate information from your best blog posts and promote them in a weekly newsletter since you already have a huge list of email subscribers. It is a great way to promote your blog posts and nudge users to your site to read cream content.

The basic idea is to present the same content in different ways as people have different preferences regarding the content they wish to read and the format in which they wish to receive it. These are great ways to drive traffic to the website consistently; build it into an impacting online strategy.
Is there any other way you have had better results, do leave me a comment.

Watch Out, For These Paint Color trends in 2017

It is the end of the year and a paint season for many, with occasions and festivals like the festival of lights ‘Deepawali’ (in India), Christmas and New Year all over the world, just round the corner. Here is a roundup of some colors selected bound to trend in the year 2017 and beyond.

When we select colors, they must make a connection with us. With a growing rainbow of choices, making a choice is difficult. There are several things we see in a color like nuances, touch, feel.

We tend to use colors that rescue our walls, share, allow us an escape into a different world, intensify, pop, blend or clash colors, features a wall.

Subtle nuances of shades and tones are now seen keenly, where Off-white has been replaced by Beige, Cream, Chalk.

Colors have become more than just visual, wherein we now want to touch and feel the colors warming our souls, enveloping our senses. The texture of the paints is now glossy or matte.

Browns have emerged as more earthy, rich bronzed hues. Washed blues and dusky nudes are nostalgic, while nature has a great impact on color choices.

We want nature to beautify the inside of our houses since we spend more time indoors; greens and blues from the color palette are growing. The other colors inspired by nature are the sunsets and sunrise, flowers blooming in the garden; colors that fill us with hope and ecstasy.

If you love grey, add a touch of blue for a timeless look, or silver or slate shades. Add intense colors to feature a wall, ceiling or an area striking, strong, bold colors with freehand paint design or color block effect, or bold saturated colors.

Painting colors on walls are old; paint table legs, ceilings, blocks in the cupboard, take a step towards creativity. Colors never seen together will now feature as partners, time to break all color partnering rules.

If you are afraid of getting it wrong, simply choose to repeat color schemes as they assist in narrowing down the options. Take time to choose your colors, fashion a new color and add some freshness to your home.

20 Freelance Skills Still In Demand - 2016

The work culture is changing rapidly with a lot of uncertainties; a large number of people are taking on freelancing, part-time or full-time, mostly to diversify their skill set, fill their time, earn additional cash or venture in as an entrepreneur.

By 2020, freelancing will represent 40% of the workforce. Here is a list of skills you can jump start a freelance career and become part of the 40%. 
Upwork, the world’s largest freelancing website, released its quarterly skills index in the US recently. This is the list of skill sets growing in demand in 2016 and contains a few of the skills mentioned in the post 6 Freelance Skills In Demand.

7.   Voice-over Artist

A good voice and communication skills are all you need to be a voice-over artist for radio advertisements or corporate videos. The pay is decent with amazing opportunities for youngsters.

8.   Translation

There are immense opportunities for people who can read, write and speak more languages than one. Begin working on freelance translation assignments with strong regional and foreign language skills.

9.   App development

A skill that can churn a huge income, the skills required are back-end computing, mobile UI designing, programming amongst others. The future is bright since people are using their smartphones to browse the internet.

10.   Executive Search Specialist

The sky is the limit when we talk about income in this field, by helping companies find suitable candidates for specialized roles. This lightens the HR work in the corporate while you earn, for all the tedious work put in.

A few more skills:

1.               User experience design

2.               ASP development

3.               Shopify development

4.               English proofreading

5.               SEO writing

6.               Animation

7.               Virtual assistant

8.               Lead generation

9.               Data mining

10.            Video editing

11.            WordPress development

12.            AngularJS development

13.            Java development

14.            Accounting & Bookeeping

15.            Android development

16.            iOS development

17.            Zendesk

18.            MongoDB

19.            Data visualization

20.            AutoCAD

This skill set lists skills in demand in the US, it is growing in many other parts of the world. Opportunities are huge for freelancers who want to earn higher paychecks each month. 
Just take the time to know yourself and find at least 5 skills you are good at and then narrow down to one or two, to begin with. Good Luck!