Don’t Ever Hesitate To Send An Invoice!
March 12, 2008 by Anne Wayman
Filed under Freelancing
I suspect that it seems I have my writing life pretty well together. After all, if you’re a regular reader, you know that I usually post a couple of times a day, six days a week. I talk about contracts and successes quite a bit. All of which is true.
I also have my moments. Well started on the third chapter of a ghostwriting project, I had to look up the terms of a ghostwriting contract to see when I was supposed to send an invoice. I wrote the contract so you’d think I’d know I set it up to invoice prior to the draft of each chapter. Sigh. Then I had all sorts of doubts that ran sort of like this:
- Well, she told me she liked the first two chapters, but chapter two isn’t complete.
- Maybe I’d better wait until I’ve got a draft of chapter three - but then she’d owe me twice as much.
- We still haven’t gotten our pattern of communication down. (I’m not sure what this has to do with anything… but you can see my mind was scrambling for reasons to avoid sending the invoice.)
Okay, I’m not wrapped too tightly when it comes to money, not yet. I’m way better, but I still get uneasy asking for it.
Of course, if you asked me if you should invoice in this situation, I’d say “sure, the sooner the better.” So I’ll take my own advice.
If you’re not sure how to create an invoice, here’s an article called: How to Create an Invoice for Your Freelance Writing Clients
Write well and often,
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I appreciate this post. I need to send out a few invoices and this gave me exactly what I need. :)
April, glad to do it.
Your post is true and timely.
I too write my own contracts and have to refer to them.
I try my darndest not to alter from “my” way of billing for work, because if I do I drop the ball on invoicing all together and that means dropping the ball on getting paid.
Self discipline is, regrettably the key.
Once I learned that clients are all not alike and they, most of them, will pay for the services, especially if you tell them up front you will not give them the product unless they pay. Oh yah, the key to that one… keep to your guns. The one time I did not, the client got more then he actually paid me for. The guy still owes me 1/3 of the agreed price… putz, bet he’s published the stuff I wrote too. :[
Kathleen