How Creatives Can Beat the Torturously-Slow Payment Process : Use these 6 strategies to get your hard-earned cash faster

"Trying to get paid on time as a creative is the pits. You complete a project for a company, submit your invoice…and wait. And wait. And wait some more. Maybe you’re fortunate and 30 days go by and your check is finally cut. Or maybe the company that hired you pays according to the increasingly-popular 45-day net terms. Or maybe you face an all-too-familiar punch in the gut: For whatever reason—from laziness to disorganization—your project manager didn’t submit your invoice to their accounting department in a timely manner. Now, after 30 to 45 days, you’re squeezed through another month-long cycle. This isn’t just a freelancer’s dilemma: It impacts everyone in the creative food chain who works for a bigger entity, from independent artists to design firms waiting on their fees from corporate brands. What recourse do you have? You’re worried that, if you step up to them on something, even if it is their fault, they won’t assign you any more work. So you do little except maybe ask nicely again and again that they send payment. And, as someone who has waited months for checks, I can tell you that some people simply don’t really care about the delay, no matter how nicely you ask. That’s why we crowdsourced the topic to our readers and asked for their tried and true solutions that we’ve shared below, alongside a few of our own strategies." Matt McCue, Sylloge, #02 Read more