The Importance of Receiving a Down Payment BEFORE Starting Work!

The Importance of Receiving a 
Down Payment BEFORE Starting Work!
-■ (From My Personal Experience) ■-

Has this ever happened to you?...
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Doing work for free is never a good feeling. You never think someone would actually make you do all the work without paying you. In a way, you deny it so much from certain clients, you are certain that the will pay you at the end. Especially when a client is super excited about the design through the whole process. Sometimes designers look past the non-payment when it comes to certain clients because they seem trustworthy. The clients excitement makes you feel like they would never just up and leave on you. They are with you through the final stage making suggestions. You have a final product, and the client requests edits. At this point, you want to ask for payment, but you feel like they are a good person and good for it, so you even go ahead and do the edits for them. After it's all complete, you go to contact them for payment, and they don't respond. They fall off the face of the Earth. You for sure trusted them to pay you, but they didn't. Hopefully if an experience like this happened to you, it didn't go to that extent of after final edits, but it's is very possible and can happen. It happened to me - a few times. I told myself it would never happen again, and it did. 

WATCH OUT FOR THESE PEOPLE!

A big reason a client will fall off at the very end is if they don't want the design and don't want to pay for it. A lot of times this happens because the client is trying to get a low wage from a designer and a designer with a low wage are usually a bit inexperienced and do not have an extensive portfolio. Sometimes clients will outright ask you to do all the work before any payment. Others know how to sweet talk you into getting exactly that. A lot of times, these people are internet based communication - maybe a phone call. If you meet with them in person odds are a lot lower that they will take you for a ride. These people might not be actual bad people in real life, but if they have you do work and not pay you, they are not someone you want to work with!

Clients should do research before hiring a designer. 
HOW TO HIRE A GRAPHIC DESIGNER - Click here to read more..

HOW CAN I PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING?

A good way to avoid the client bringing up the fact that they want to see a final product before they pay is to have an extensive portfolio. That gives the client a way to see your style and figure out if you are the right fit for their project,

GET PAID - YOU ARE WORTH IT! 

Graphic design is a skill and a trade and you deserve to get paid for your time! You wouldn't ask a plumber to come over to fix a toilet and then you tell him to leave with no pay after all the work is done. This is BAD BUSINESS. People like this are out there and you need to be aware of them. They will fish for novice and even experienced designers and prey on them. They come across so polite and nice and it's our human nature to believe them. Beware these people!

ARE THERE GOOD PEOPLE OUT THERE?

  If a person is truly committed to having a design made, they will give you a down payment upon agreement of the project.

THE DOWN PAYMENT CONTRACT..

A down payment is an agreement that both parties are liable for the service you are offering. Even if you have your client sign a contract, it is hard to legally demand them for the money. You have to go to court and it's a big hassle, especially if you aren't getting paid a big amount. Designers end up just letting it go.