You’ve landed a commission. Congrats! You’ve researched, crafted a headline, eeked out a meta description, you’ve interviewed, strung lovely words into lovelier sentences, proofread it twice and you’re happy enough to hit send.
The client’s happy so you send off an invoice. Then – crickets. A happy client becomes deafeningly quiet (hyperbolically as writers you have a flair for the dramatic) as your invoice goes frustratingly unreconciled.
Now what?
You have a few options when it comes to unpaid invoices.
- Polite Polly: send an email requesting follow up on unpaid invoice gently calling to attention the payment terms and that it is now overdue
- Call to Karen: request a direct contact for accounts to speed up invoice payment. Ignoring your emails? Jump on the phone – keep it relaxed yet confident.
- Silent Sally: you’ve pursued steps 1-2 pretty solidly and gotten no reply. So do the complete opposite, go full radio silence for a few weeks. Silence might just scare your non paying Nelson into paying on the spot. Silence is usually a sign of something bigger and scarier happening ie debt collection.
- Full Fuhr: once you’ve exhausted steps 1-3 it’s time to bring in the tentative big guns. Using a debt collection app like CollectMore and their super easy templates is most likely enough to scare someone into paying.
- Still no dollars? Now is when you should contact your local debt collections agency IF there’s enough in it for you to pursue. You have 6 years to pursue a debt, and if you have emails (written agreement) you’re entitled to be paid for your hard work.