Apr
Salvation through Deposits: Why You Should Always Collect Upfront
We can often be a hesitant bunch, us writers. Shaky when taking criticism, shy when contemplating networking, and downright stupefied when discussing fees and money. It’s this last hesitancy that could damage us the most.
I’ve wondered at the reasons why writers are notoriously insecure about money on this blog, proposing that we are often desperately uncomfortable with the idea of placing a money value on our hard work. Could also be that a lot of us are introverts (I’ll own up to it), attracted to the world of writing as a very insular, isolated field, one far removed from salesmanship and negotiation. No matter the reason, we often suck at demanding and getting what we’re worth.
One way I’ve found comfort with charging appropriate fees, and ease in collecting those fees, is breaking project fees into easily digestible bits. Take my biggest project thus far, which involved a long series of web pages, marketing collateral, and a few other odds and ends. Taken together, over several months’ worth of work, I estimated the project fees into the thousands. I broke that fee into four segments, a deposit for initial work, a payment after two sets of deliverables, and a final payment. This is an exceedingly fair arrangement – I get paid throughout the work, and my client doesn’t have to face a bigass payment come due all at once.
The concept of the first payment, the deposit, was a bit strange to me when I first started out freelancing. I felt it wasn’t quite fair to my clients – why would I get paid on the mere assumption that I was going to deliver work? What if I turned out to be a scam artist, or collected money and then delivered shit copy? I had no plans to be or do either one, but my vulnerable little clients didn’t know that. So why would they agree to such a thing as money upfront?
But here’s the thing: deposits are an accepted, encouraged, smart means of parity between writer and client. Why?
- Deposits are professional. Lawyers, contractors, consultants, and a whole range of other professionals charge deposits. And how do we view them? Experts, worth the fees we pay. That’s what requiring deposits tell clients about us: we are professionals that will be worth every penny.
- Deposits are accommodating. We don’t like getting smacked with big bills for services rendered. Neither do clients. Breaking up the payments just makes good sense (and means good customer service) for business owners, marketing agencies, and any other person hiring you.
- Deposits are support. We need cash. For things like food. And we shouldn’t have to wait until a project is completely finished, reviewed, and approved for payment. As many experienced freelancers will say, this can take forever for certain clients with multiple levels of review. So to cover your time and effort while the project is going on, deposits are good support.
- Deposits are smart. I recently learned how smart they are. A client and I fired each other after a painful week or so: he wanted a freelancer available at midnight and every other minute of the day, I wanted a normal client who understands freelancer doesn’t mean servant. I had already produced a first draft of the website copy he desired, after collecting a deposit for the project. When we decided to part ways, despite some severe disagreements, he understood and agreed with the notion that the deposit would not be returned. It was a payment for the time I’d put in. After the experience I was frustrated and relieved simultaneously, but I was also damn happy I had charged a deposit.
For these reasons, and probably for many more, deposits are a very wise, necessary component of freelancing fee structures. The key to asking for and receiving deposits? Make it a given. In my fee estimates, I always include the items covered by the fee, the time frame for the project, and the payment schedule. Depending on the size of the fee, this can be split into halves, thirds, fourths, or whatever works best. But ensure that the first portion of that fee is a deposit, paid before work starts.
Deposits make you more professional, remove some of the anxiety and worry around fees, and cover your ass. What other reasons could you need?
What about you? Do you charge deposits? Any experiences where deposits particularly came in handy?
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Excellent tips, Amy. I especially liked the forays into the psychology of us writers and how that affects our ability to portray ourselves as the professionals we are.
I’m also starting to go through this process as I’m working on book proposals. The idea of getting paid starters is weird, but you’ve listed all the reasons why they’re good things. Great work.
April 1st, 2008 at 5:16 pmYou’re right on the money (ha, ha), Amy. The bottom line is never turn down $$ and if you can get it sooner rather than later, all the better.
As far as deposit stories go, a number of years ago, I had the displeasure of working for a doctor to develop brochure copy. He pulled the plug on that project but not before asking me to write a press release. Had I not gotten a deposit upfront, I wouldn’t have been paid for either project. He turned-out to be a real SOB who wanted his deposit fully refunded. This was the only time I needed my lawyer to intervene on my behalf.
I chaulked this one up to a learning experience though. A friend of mine said, “always trust your gut.” I had a feeling this guy was bad news from the first moment I talked to him and I, unfortunately, was right.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:09 pm@Charlie - thanks, and glad you liked it. BTW - book proposals! Huge, but exciting endeavor. Wrote one myself last year (and then the story subsequently imploded…will perhaps be the topic of a blog post in the future…) A fantastic learning experience though, and best of luck to you in it.
@Sherree - wow! What a nightmare client. It’s so true though, isn’t it - you sometimes just have a gut feeling about clients, and it’s often right. I had a bad feeling about the client I mentioned in the post from the get go, but didn’t pay attention. Like you said - learning experiences.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:11 pmHi Amy
I almost always ask for a deposit. I once had someone who refused to give me one, so I refused to do the project. I wasn’t budging - I didn’t care much for the reputation they’d built up on whatever forum they were part of. Reputation doesn’t pay my bills. Deposits do.
I was ready to drop the project, then they reconsidered.
Money is a sore point when it comes to a lot of writers, not just writers, but freelancers in general. But it’s something we can learn to handle properly, just takes some personal work on ourselves to realise that we deserve not to be treated like doo-doo.
take care…
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:15 pmHey 2ThePoint: Absolutely. It’s all about realizing we are worth the fees we charge. We’re professionals, offering a specialized service. As such, we’re entitled to good fees and a deposit. Just makes sense.
And so happy Brad’s balls will stay where they’re meant to be…
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:29 pmYep, looks like those balls were meant to be penny-lised.
May the Goddess give me the strength and determination I need to complete my mission. It’s not gonna be easy, but I’m sure chocolate will help.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:16 amAmy,
First–bravo to you for starting this blog! We writers (yep, many of us are a bit introverted) need a place like this to learn and share.
I basically agree with you: For longer-term projects like the one you described involving lots of web pages, etc., I, too, would ask for an advance –probably one third of the total fee–especially if the client was a less well “established” organization. That said, however, I usually don’t request a deposit for most shorter projects, and I have never had a problem collecting fees after submitting the work (I’ve heard lots of horror stories, though). However, much (but not all) of my work happens to be for relatively larger organizations that have been around for a while. I trust them, I just do, and they don’t disappoint. If the project was going to be for a newer and/or smaller business, I’d definitely request an advance. By all means, cover your ass. I’m curious: Do you always, always ask for an advance, even for, say, a single magazine article? I’m really interested. Thanks for starting QRW!
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:33 pmHi Susan! Thanks for stopping by, and for some great questions. I agree that with bigger, big-name companies, and for shorter projects, the deposit rule can be bent and broken. I too have had no problems with that policy. With bigger companies I still charge a deposit for larger projects to cover my initial working time.
Then there’s magazine articles - with this group, the rule is a request more than a rule. Magazines in my realm (and looks like yours too) are usually pretty firm on fees and delivery dates - I usually comply unless it just seems weird or unfair. So most of the time no deposits with them.
Thanks again for asking these questions, Susan. Hopefully the answers help clarify for you and for other readers. And keep on reading!
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:36 pmAmy,
We seem to handle things similarly. It’s always good to hear what other writers do, what works and what doesn’t. Thanks for sharing. I’m looking forward to reading more on QRW!
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:23 pm