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I vaguely remember “Mr. H,” my high school Economics teacher, telling our class, “A deal is not a deal until the cash is in hand.” Unfortunately, most freelancers don’t follow that philosophy. Why is it that so many designers run into problems with getting paid?

Deposits, contracts, etc. are absolutely necessary when dealing with new clients. But what if you have worked on a number of projects with the same person? In my experience, a level of trust is developed and those “businessy” things start to fade away. After all, “Mr. H” also taught our class the value of repeat business vs. the cost of acquiring new customers; and diving into a project without asking for half of the money up-front will certainly make my customer happy and want to come back.

If any of this sounds familiar, you’ve set yourself up to be stung. And if the project turns out to be a big one, it can really hurt. Sometimes you complete the job and just can’t get the client to pay, or maybe a job gets cancelled halfway through and it’s a “tough rocks, pal” kind of moment.

So, why is this so common? I think that when it comes to the business end of freelancing, we are too soft. Deposits and contracts are not a number one priority because there is an off chance that you’ll offend or scare a client away. We don’t want to lose a job that way because the reality of being a freelance designer is that if you don’t have work coming in you wont get paid, which can be a bigger problem than not getting paid for the time you’ve put into a specific project.

What do you think?

What is the best way to make sure you are compensated for your work? Do you prefer to obtain a deposit or make sure a contract is signed before taking on every job? What about repeat clients? Leave a comment below, we can all learn from each other’s past experiences. (Horror stories are welcome!)