What to do if you don’t get paid
You’ve been professionally blogging for a month. You posted as often as required, conformed to all requirements, and now it’s time to collect the cash. So where is that check?
Most clients are not villains, out to steal your work in return for nothing. In fact, a good rule of thumb is to proceed – at least initially – as if every non-paying client is Doc Brown from Back to the Future. In other words, when people neglect to pay you on time, try assuming they are kind-hearted, absent-minded professor types. They’re not being deliberately malicious; they’re just not thinking.
Your first step with your Doc Brown client is to establish a payment amount, schedule and method before you begin blogging. Once you’ve agreed on it in writing, put the client’s name and payment amount on your calendar so you’ll remember if the date passes without you getting paid.
If the day does pass without payment, try a gentle nudge before you get angry. Often the client just forgot to pay you, so a friendly email reminder will clear the whole thing up, and leave you with a happy client instead of an offended one. This email should include who you are (sometimes clients have multiple authors), which site you blog for, the amount you’re expecting and the due date you’d agreed on.
Unfortunately, the first email doesn’t always work. Doc Brown may be inventing something vital like a better mousetrap and hasn’t bothered to respond to you yet. Give the client a few days before you send your next email. Stay friendly, but make it clear that you won’t be proceeding with the project until you get paid. Double-check your email for tone; remember that it’s easy to misread a short email as being an angry email.
If another week passes with no response, it’s time to worry. If you have a phone number for the Doc, use it. Many people need to hear a voice or see a face to remember that you are a human being who needs to eat and pay rent. Sometimes a person-to-person conversation is all you need to force the issue.
If you’ve been through all this and nothing’s happened, it’s time to make some decisions. The first one is, how long are you willing to wait for this client? If you’ve had a positive experience with them in the past, or if you’ve heard good things about them, it might be worthwhile to continue sending reminder emails every few days for a month before you take the next step. But if you look into them and find they have a bad rep, or if you believe they don’t intend to pay you, then this client is no friendly Doc Brown. At this point, your options are:
1. Let it go. It’s painful to let go of money you’ve worked hard for, but the struggle to get the $20 or $50 probably won’t be worth the reward.
2. Go public. This one can get ugly, and can really backfire on you if you’re not careful, but I still think it’s a good idea to warn other writers not to work with this person. Email the site manager of the website you saw the posting on originally and let them know this person neglected to pay you. If you have a personal site, you can also post something there. Be informative – you did the work and were not paid – but not vitriolic. Remember that other clients might see this, so stay professional.
3. Take legal steps. If there’s enough money involved, this option might be worthwhile.
Send one more email referencing all the facts of the case. Maintain a professional tone, but be clear that legal action will follow if you receive no response by a certain date. If you receive no response, it’s time to consult a lawyer.
Above all, remember that clients talk to each other. Though it’s infuriating to receive a payment three weeks late, it’s still better to be patient and professional than to send an angry email which can be passed on to another client in the future. In other words, don’t burn your bridges unless you absolutely have to.
Kevin | October 4th, 2007 at 6:26 pm #
Yes its a problem freelance bloggers will most likely encounter at one point.
As you know, I pay authors up front so there is a risk of me getting the other side of the stick - ie. paying and not getting posts etc (I’ve been lucky so far with this though).
From a bloggers point of view, if you have contacted them a few times and they havent got back to you within a week or so then I wouldn’t rule out posting about it or making a comment on the persons blog.
Monika @ The Writers Manifesto | October 4th, 2007 at 8:05 pm #
It sucks when this happens,
So far I have never had a problem with being paid. I know though that some bloggers got the stick from Bloggerwave some time back.
Like you said Kris, the best thing would be to forget about it and move on when nothing else works. Why waste valuable energy and stew about something we cannot change.
BTW Kevin, love your new design. Must be blogging spring as everybody is house cleaning.
Monika
Kevin | October 4th, 2007 at 8:07 pm #
glad you like the theme, I’m writing a post about it as we speak
DeMerchant | October 4th, 2007 at 8:41 pm #
Those where good tips… such a pain collecting money from people you’ve actually met in person… let alone internet people
Sandra | October 5th, 2007 at 3:23 am #
Thank you for sharing your tips. I am sure there are some bloggers out there who could really use your advice. It’s a shame when something like that happens. You put in a lot of hard work so it’s only fair to see a reward for that. I agree that it is for your own good to stay professional at all times!
Dave Starr --- ROI Guy | October 5th, 2007 at 5:24 am #
Some good advice here. In particular, painful as it may be, one should really heed the advice about being calm, precise and factual in public disputes. I’ve seen way too many bloggers who probably were in the right turn the tables on themselves by getting so rabid in public that they make me add them to the list of people I’ll never deal with. It’s not enough to be right, you have to be right professionally. Good overview, thanks.
John Rice | October 5th, 2007 at 8:54 pm #
It is an absolute pang for any freelancer. Most of the time you have to forget about your due payments as shouting is not going to get your money back. Anyway thanks for this nice post and please check this link.
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Rob Mead | October 8th, 2007 at 1:42 pm #
This has happened to me more than once. I just bite the bullet and chalk it up to “A lesson well learned” and move on. I would recommend that every blog writer demand a PayPal account with half of the agreed upon amount be created immediately on the publisher’s behalf before you write one word for any future employers.
Kris Larson (Post Author) | October 9th, 2007 at 11:57 am #
Thanks for all your comments, guys. Kevin is one of the few employers who pays his bloggers in advance, in my experience. It makes me want to work harder and better for Blogging Tips because I feel like I can trust the site. Thanks for never being Doc Brown, Kevin!