Self-employment is not a walk in the park. Many people have only vague ideas about what it means. And the truth is: it’s not easy to find the balance between income and time investment. But if you’re willing to overcome some challenges and plan ahead wisely, it’s entirely possible.
It’s an issue that we often discuss “new work” arrangements like fruit baskets, yoga mats, and employee fun days – but no one talks about how freelancers and solopreneurs are getting paid. We’re not talking about the minority of those who use escrow services like Fiverr, but rather those who get hired directly by small to medium enterprises – whose payment practices are becoming increasingly unreliable. With so much uncertainty in the world right now, this is more important than ever.
Here are the 10 golden rules for getting proper appreciation for your work and making sure the cash is in order:
1. Choose your clients consciously.
2. End the cooperation immediately if a client seriously asks you: “Is this free?” Nothing in life is free, only fools and rip-off men dare to ask for free services in a professional dialogue.
3. Make sure that your clients show appreciation for your skills and efforts.
4. Do not accept dumping fees – ever! You are not the bank for hustlers and weak players. If someone wants to enrich themselves at your expense, then they should find someone else. (Fees vary from country to country and are based on the cost of living; avoid a downward spiral from the start and know your market value in relation to your qualifications, experience and references.)
5. Make 100% payment discipline a priority. As a rule, demand advance payment. If you have to work on an open invoice after all: in the digital age, no company needs more than 48 hours to pay your bill. All others are disorganized or operate in an ungracious Ponzi scheme, spending revenue immediately because they lack a decent capital base and cannot get funding.
6. If you do “charity” work, make sure that the emotional added value compensates for your loss of income, because even a good feeling doesn’t pay the bills.
7. Make sure from the beginning that you are allowed to talk about your work publicly (e.g. in social media); gladly in agreement with your clients. But don’t let them tell you to shut up!
8. Do not accept performance-based remuneration if the risk of success for you is incomprehensible, unplannable or strongly dependent on your client / partner or their products. A client who appreciates your service will pay you a fair fee and be able to bear his own market risk.
9. Break through the psychological income barrier in your mind and stop worrying about there being “too much”. You can never earn enough! The more you earn, the better you can take care of your family, your future and your current needs. And in the end, with an extremely good income, you also contribute extremely much to social development through your taxes.
10. Place uncompromising value on quality in everything you do. You will only be happy and satisfied if your performance is in line with your expectations. In addition, the (digital) world remembers your work, preferably the bad aspects. Therefore, avoid having this attack surface.
Good luck on your journey to self-employment!
This post is supported by Denario – the unique cash flow management system for businesses and agencies that receive lots of invoices unstructured through multiple channels, want to invoice and follow-up from a central location with the whole team, and want to make sure the cash is right in all of this.
