Getting paid

I used to worry about asking to get paid. I still do. There is (was?) some part of me that feels like a scumbag because I’m asking for money.

But it’s not actually like that. I realised that my clients WANT to give me money.

One client is struggling because their client can’t afford to pay them. But they are putting a plan in place to make sure I get paid. They want to pay me.

I’ve got a new client and I was holding off writing the contract because I thought they weren’t ready. He rang me up, interrupting me, and made me do it.

I had a coaching client and I was struggling to charge him because I was unsure if what I was doing was helping or not. He kept ringing me up reminding me to send him an invoice.

People WANT to pay you. They want to give you a fair rate. They trust you to do a good job and they know what that’s worth.

The clients who battle you on price - they don’t believe in you - and they’re invariably the cheapskates who never get what they want.

So don’t work for them.

You know you’re good at what you do. That’s why you dropped everything to work for yourself.

Find the clients who can see that. Find the clients who value what you do.

They’re out there. You just need to look in the right places.

Rahoul Baruah

Rahoul Baruah

Rubyist since 1.8.6. I like hair, dogs and Kim/Charli/Poppy. Also CTO at Collabor8Online.
Leeds, England