Make things Easy on Clients: Accept many Forms of Payment
Before you accept any freelance writing project you will want to work out the payment terms with the client. In many cases, this can throw a wrench into your plan of moving forward right away. The main reason for this is not seeing eye to eye with the client on how you are going to get paid. While this can come up from time to time, it is not a problem that you should have to deal with. Instead, you should accept as many forms of payment as possible in order to ensure that this issue does not hold you back from obtaining a new client.
I know of several freelance writers who only accept payment via PayPal. They do not want to receive checks, and are afraid of bank wires because they think it will compromise their financial information. Personally, I think that this is a dumb move. If you do not accept checks you can forget about doing business with most magazines and bigger companies. Simply put, the majority of them pay by check because they have an accounting department that is big enough to handle each and every invoice that they receive. By only accepting PayPal, you may be missing out on a lot of work.
You have probably noticed on my freelance writing income report that I accept payment via PayPal, check, and bank wire. While PayPal is definitely the leader, I usually receive a couple of checks and wires each month as well. And guess what? If I only accepted PayPal, I would be leaving several thousand dollars on the table each month. Obviously, this is not something that I plan on doing.
Why don’t you want to receive certain forms of payment? Sure, it can be a hassle to drive to the bank to deposit checks but do you want to lose a client over this? Your answer should be no.
All in all, it should be your goal to make things as easy as possible on your freelance writing clients. When it comes to accepting payment, this means being open to receiving your money in many different forms.Â
