Be your freelancer’s invoice champion
A regularly paid freelancer is a loyal freelancer, so clear the path for them to get paid!
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This is the next post in my series on working with freelance copywriters. Check out the previous post here.
“I can’t believe that we’re messing up your payments this badly, Julia. I am SO sorry.”
This is what one of my clients, a marketing director at a global consulting firm instantly recognizable to anyone in the tech world, said to me over and over.
This is also where many clients fail their freelance copywriters. Making it easy to get paid and also regularly paying freelancers will get you the undying love and loyalty of any freelancer, guaranteed. So why do so many clients mess this up?
In the case of the giant global tech consulting firm who always paid my invoices 2–3 months late, my client and I had to game the system to ensure that I had money coming in. But we shouldn’t have had to do that.
Paying your freelancers should be easy.
Here’s how you can become the hero in your freelancer’s life.
Discover how your company pays freelancers
Start by learning how your company pays vendors. Some companies treat freelancers like any other vendor while others give employees the freedom to handle payment themselves through a corporate credit card. You won’t know unless you ask, so go find out.
Become friends with someone in Accounts Payable.
At some point, you freelancer will have a question that only the Accounts Payable team can answer. Find out where to send the questions and let your freelancer know.
Better yet, give your freelancer the contact info so they can reach out directly. One of my regular editors did that for me as I had questions about combined payments they send me.
Dealing directly with the accounts rep made it easy for us to figure out a quick procedure I can do whenever I would get multiple payments for them so I could sort out which invoices were actually paid. She knows to expect my email at the same time every month and she can…
