But you probably didn’t take into account the extra hours you’d be working, how to plan for a vacation or take time off for the holidays.

If this sounds like you, here are 6 things to consider to avoid freelancer burnout and enjoy some excellent work-free quality time.

Plan ahead

Whether you are going on a long vacation or just taking a short break away to recharge your batteries, it makes sense to plan ahead.

What you don’t want to be doing is rushing around in a mad panic, trying to meet deadlines on your last working day before your time off – as this will inevitably increase your stress levels and most likely lead to mistakes and oversights.

Give yourself a few days buffer both before you go away and when you return. You can do this by breaking down larger tasks and getting them done in advance.

This will, of course, require a few tweaks to your daily workflow, but if you plan for it, the few extra hours you spend getting stuff done spread out over the weeks and days will be worth it.

Let clients know in advance

Let all your clients know ahead of time that you will be taking time off. It would also be sensible to remind them a week before and then again a day before you plan on taking time off. People have busy schedules and can easily forget.

If you have a shared calendar or use a tool such as Slack, make sure you note that you are away. You could even include the dates you are away in your email signature.

Likewise, leave an out-of-office message on your emails so that people will know you are on leave and will get back to them on your return. Alternatively, if you have a team or VA, you can ask people to refer queries to them. The key is to ensure emails are responded to, even if it is telling them you are unavailable and won’t be reading your emails until you return.

If you are planning an extended break, you could consider finding cover for your regular clients – perhaps another freelancer in your network could help with the workload, or you could consider sub-contracting if this is acceptable according to your contract.

Automate your invoices

Just because you are on vacation doesn’t mean you can’t send out your invoices and get paid.

Invoice Ninja, a leading free invoice software specifically developed for freelancers and small businesses like you, offers a user-friendly interface for creating and sending professional-looking and custom-branded invoices.

You can save time by automatically billing long-term clients with recurring invoices (so you don’t need to do a thing). You can also make good use of our Bulk Email Invoices & Quotations feature by quickly selecting multiple invoices and emailing them out together before you go on vacation. You could even add a message to your invoice letting clients know when you are away.

If you are waiting on a client deposit, Invoice Ninja has a partial payment feature that can convert a deposit invoice into a regular one once the client has paid it.

You can focus on relaxing – we’ll help with the invoicing!

Try it for free here.

Social media marketing

If you use social media for marketing your business, you can bulk-create content and schedule posts in advance.

You can do this via the social media platform itself (if it allows) or use a social media scheduler. Some social media schedulers allow you to create and view all the content for different platforms within the app, so you don’t need to switch between platforms.

If you have an email newsletter, you can also create it and schedule it to go out in advance.

So, as far as potential clients, email subscribers and social media followers know, you are still ‘active’ and therefore staying ‘top of mind’.

Plan finances ahead

A significant factor for freelancers taking time off is that, unless you have passive income streams, you don’t get paid for time away.

This makes planning in advance even more crucial for freelancers. Ideally, you should incorporate time off for vacations/holiday periods in your freelance rates. So, when setting your rates, don’t assume you’ll work 52 weeks per year (or all your hours are billable).

There may also be slow periods in your freelance work that are specific to the industry you work in (or the nature of the work you undertake) that need to be taken into account. In any event, you should add some buffer for any potential freelance feast and famine cycles.

You could also consider creating passive income streams to act as an additional buffer. These can be anything from affiliate income, info products, courses or even subscriptions. Budgeting in advance for your vacation might also be a good idea, so you save a bit each month.

Set boundaries

Setting appropriate boundaries is not just for your clients (so they don’t contact you when you are on vacation) but for yourself. It can be tempting to whip open your laptop while vacationing just out of curiosity or feel like you are ‘missing out’ or that there might be an important message you just have to read.

However, once you start doing this, it can quickly become a slippery slope, and you could find yourself working over the holidays instead of enjoying quality time with loved ones.

If you’ve properly planned ahead – there’s no reason for you to be working on vacation.

However, if an emergency work situation does arise and you have to work – limit your time as much as possible, and don’t beat yourself up about it.

~

We hope these tips were helpful.

Wishing you an enjoyable well-deserved vacation and Happy Holidays!

At the beginning of your freelancer journey, you may find ideal client acquisition challenging and could end up taking on all the work offered to you, even if the client isn’t the right fit.

If this is something you struggle with (or wish to avoid), here are some considerations to take into account to attract your perfect dream clients.

Review your marketing message

If you are unclear about who your ideal clients are in your marketing communications, then you’ll most likely attract clients who aren’t the right fit.

Even if you don’t have a niche, it’s helpful to create an ideal client persona or avatar to know exactly who you are targeting (and why). This may well change over time, but it is good to have it in place at the beginning of your freelancer career.

In your marketing message, are you specific about who you are targeting? From your website, social media presence, and other digital and print media assets, is it clear who your ideal clients are and the service/transformation you offer?

For example, if your ideal clients are high-ticket business coaching clients already turning over 1 million and want to increase sales by 10% (thanks to your help and expertise), do your communications specifically highlight this?

Also, how (and where) does your service or skill set fit into their transformation journey?

Zeroing in on your marketing message, your ideal client, your positioning in the market and how you help will go a long way toward attracting your ideal clients.

Qualify them before you ‘meet’

If you get leads from your website or social media, a good way to filter ideal clients is to ask them to complete a brief questionnaire before they get on a discovery call or have a one-to-one meeting with you.

This way, you’ll know what they are looking for beforehand and, most importantly, if you can help them or not.

You can ascertain their needs and also any deadlines. For example, if you are a freelance graphic designer and your prospective client needs a super fast turnaround on visual resources for a last-minute holiday promotion (think Black Friday), it may be that you can’t fit them into your schedule at this time.

Another benefit of having a call or in-person meeting is that you’ll be able to see if you are a good fit and have the right rapport. You can also better identify any ‘red flags’. In addition, you can also find out if the person has the authority to hire you – and what the ‘chain of command’ is if you do go ahead – who will you be corresponding with – and when, as well as payment terms and conditions.

These are all points to consider to ensure you are the right fit, processes align, and things go smoothly.

Include prices or a price range on your website

If your service has a known cost or price, then consider displaying this on your website.

If you work on a project basis rather than hourly, or your service doesn’t have a fixed price, consider including a price range.

Knowing your prices (or at least a ballpark estimate) in advance will filter out clients who aren’t the right fit or haven’t got the budget to spend.

You might also want to state your payment terms and conditions, for example, if you require a partial or full deposit in advance.

Ask for client referrals

Ask your current clients (or ones you’ve just worked with) for referrals within their network.

If you like working with the client, it’s likely that you’ll also find similar clients with the same ethos within their network.

You can even add a message asking for a referral to your final client invoice.

Clients will be happy to refer good freelancers to their network as it looks good on them, too. Word of mouth is a powerful and effective way to get clients.

Although there is always the possibility that now your current clients have found gold, they want to keep you all to themselves!

You can also ask other freelancers in your network if they know of any good clients to work with – or if they have an overflow of work you could help them with – or even ask them to refer you to anyone who might need your help.

Have client-friendly systems and processes in place

Having client-friendly systems and processes in place can not only streamline your business and take care of tedious and time-consuming tasks but also help make you come across as easy to deal with, trustworthy, and professional.

A slick client onboarding process, as well as good invoice software so your clients can pay you via a range of online payment gateways in just one click, can go a long way to attracting the right clients to your business.

Invoice Ninja is a leading free invoicing software for small business invoicing, online payments, tracking expenses and billable tasks. It also includes attractive, professional invoice template designs you can customize with your logo and brand colors.

Try it for free here.

Take care of low-hanging fruit

If you already have a client you love to work with, it’s worth considering if there is anything else you can help them with and maybe forge a longer-term relationship (and more pay).

For example, if you are a freelance translator, could you also offer a blog writing package to help with your client’s marketing in their target language?

Identify areas where your client could need your help and offer solutions to their problems.

If you like working with them, the feeling is likely mutual. Plus, searching for and hiring reliable freelancers can be time-consuming for clients.

So it’s better for them to work with someone whose work (and processes) they already know, like and trust.

And it also means you don’t need to search for a new client.

~

All the above can help take your freelancer business to the next level so you can attract better clients and increase your earnings potential. If you know of anyone else who might benefit from reading this – please share. Thank you!

For a start, it’s good for freelance cash flow (so you are not as susceptible to the freelancer feast and famine cycle) and also great for cultivating good freelancer-client relationships.

Furthermore, if you are in this fortunate position, there are also several options open to you as to how you can potentially charge them.

Here are some billing options to consider.

Retainer contract

A retainer is an agreement to pay you a set amount (usually per month) in return for a fixed set of deliverables. The advantage of this is that you know exactly how much you will be paid each month (or whenever it was you agreed), and the client can better manage their budget.

Retainers are generally sought after by freelancers as it means there is less uncertainty when it comes to freelancer cash flow. If more tasks are requested, the freelancer can simply bill more via an ad hoc invoice.

This type of arrangement is suitable where a set of deliverables are known and fixed in advance.

For these arrangements, where clients need to be billed on a fixed schedule, you can save time with Invoice Ninja by automatically billing long-term clients with recurring invoices. Auto-billing is a feature that enables the payment system to capture your client’s credit card details and store them for billing at a future date.

Fixed project rate

As with the retainer agreement, setting a fixed project rate provides a level of reassurance for both parties on the payment due date and amount.

However, there are some things to take into account for this type of arrangement, including whether you’ll require a partial or full deposit upfront and the billing frequency. For example, will you require full payment upfront, will you invoice monthly, or will you require payment at the end of the project?

Some issues can present themselves with this type of arrangement that should be ironed out from the get-go. These include the project’s scope and deliverables (to avoid any potential scope creep), so it’s wise to have a written agreement or contract in place.

Invoice Ninja’s partial payment feature is ideal if you require a partial deposit upfront. Once the client pays it, it converts a deposit invoice into a regular one. After your client pays the partial payment (deposit), the invoice will automatically update itself with the balance due and set a new final invoice due date.

Hourly or day rate

Longer-term relationships can also support hourly pricing or day rates, especially if the work is service-based or ongoing external support to the in-house team.

With both types of billing, you’ll need to accurately track your time and any expenses incurred, if applicable. This can be tricky if you are tracking hours manually, and you’ll also need to ensure you stick to the agreed budget.

Fortunately, Invoice Ninja’s tasks and project features allow you to create projects and tasks and track time spent on billable work. When you’re done with a task or series of tasks within a project, simply click and send your work time to an invoice with just 1-click!

Try Invoice Ninja for free here.

Progress or milestone invoicing

This is similar to the project rate, but you receive payment once you’ve hit certain milestones, and the client is billed incrementally throughout the duration of the project.

This can benefit both parties as the freelancer gets regular cash flow, and the client can manage the budget accordingly throughout. They can be especially beneficial for longer-term projects with large budgets.

Invoice Ninja’s Kanban boards can help you organize and plan your long-term client work.

A Kanban board is a project management tool that provides a visualization of single or multiple tasks and workflows. They are designed to make planning, managing, and completing tasks easier, thanks to a visual overview of the entire work process. You get to see what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, who needs to do it, and how much is left to do, all on one color-coded board.

~

As with all the above billing options, a lot will also depend on the nature of your work, the client relationship, as well as accounting and regulatory compliance reporting and rules in your jurisdiction.

Another consideration is if the client is open (and able) to be billed in your preferred way. That’s one of the reasons why offering multiple online payment gateways is a good idea.

Some larger corporations will have their own payment policies in place that could include net 30-day or longer payment cycles. Also, keep in mind that some work might not lend itself to deposits or project rates.

All these factors need to be taken into account to ensure you agree on the optimum way to delight your clients and get paid on time – every time.

Knowing where both parties stand, what to expect (and when), and communicating this clearly adds to a harmonious freelancer-client dynamic and builds trust so both client and freelancer can flourish and prosper.

Communication, communication, communication

Did we mention communication?

It’s vital to communicate regularly and clearly with clients. This doesn’t mean you need to contact them every day, but that you keep communication channels open and know when and how to contact them.

For example, do you have several communication channels and contacts depending on the specifics of the project? You might communicate via Slack for short status updates or queries and via email for longer updates and issues, or you may even use a project management tool to communicate and track hours.

Likewise, you may have weekly strategy meetings or ad hoc status ones.

Either way, knowing how and when you make contact will make it easier for both parties and will go a long way to managing client expectations as to when and how a project will be completed.

Keeping communication channels open also means you can effectively deal with issues that crop up that could have a bearing on the success or otherwise of a project.

Get clarity early on

Another essential ‘c’ word is clarity.

It’s important that you are clear on everything that is required from you (and your client) from the get-go.

If you are unsure of anything, ask before the project commences, as it might be too late down the line and may even contribute to scope creep. Also, if the client has to repeat the information they laid out in the project brief, it can be time-consuming, costly, not to mention unprofessional and potentially annoying!

It’s advisable not to start any project unless you know exactly what you are doing and what is expected of you.

Be clear on turnaround times and budget, especially if you charge extra for discrete services. It’s important to be transparent here as nobody likes to be surprised with additional unexpected costs.

These are all points that can be nicely ironed out in your client onboarding process and included in your written client agreement.

Be clear on payment terms and conditions

There are several things to consider when it comes to your payment terms and conditions, managing client expectations, and getting paid on time.

Your client should know how much you charge and when payment is due, but it’s a good idea to set up and schedule payment dates in advance and even send out reminders when payment is due.

You may also want to consider if you’ll apply late payment fees. If so, ensure this is clear by including a statement to this effect on your invoice (and including it in your contract).

Likewise, will you apply fast-track fees (for when the client wants an urgent turnaround) or a kill/cancellation fee (should the client cancel the project at any time before completion)? Again, these are all things that should be laid out in writing in advance, along with how you will be paid.

This is where quality invoice software can help.

Invoice Ninja is a leading free invoice software specifically developed for freelancers and small businesses like yours.

It supports multiple payment options, making it easier for clients to make payments, and integrates with a range of payment gateways, enabling you to invoice clients and receive payments with a single click. It offers a user-friendly interface for creating and sending professional-looking and custom-branded invoices as well as email automated payment reminders. You simply set up the frequency, and your clients will get reminders when it’s time for them to pay.

Another great feature is the branded client-side portal where your customers can view their invoice history, payments and quotes.

Try it for free here.

Add a little extra

It doesn’t take much to add that little extra to a project and exceed client expectations – completing a project early or adding an extra special touch can go a long way to fostering good client relations (and winning more business).

If you’re working as a freelancer in coordination with an in-house team, do all you can to be a part of the team rather than just be seen as outside help. This way, you can be up to date with everything going on and, where possible, do things that will enhance results – even if it’s just suggesting good ideas – always be helping.

For example, if you are invited to a team social event, see it as an excellent opportunity to network and bond with the team. Depending on the circumstances – you could consider not charging for your time – not everything needs a price tag. Gaining clients’ trust and providing excellent service to good clients who appreciate it is invaluable and will pay you back many times over.

In this scenario, a little goes a long way.

~

We hope this post provided you with some helpful food for thought. If you think someone else might benefit – please share. Thank you!

Therefore, it makes sense to automate as many tedious admin tasks and business processes as possible, giving you more time to serve your clients and work on your business (as well as in it).

Here are 5 admin tasks to consider automating to save you time (and money).

Appointment/Meeting Setting

Nobody wants to play email ping-pong, where you are constantly going back and forth with potential clients, trying to figure out a mutually suitable time to meet. This takes up time and can lead to mistakes, especially if you and the client are in different time zones.

A link to your online calendar can save you (and your prospective client) a lot of hassle. You can add a link to your website, social media bios, or email address. Schedulers such as Calendly can also integrate with online meeting apps such as Zoom and Google Meet, making the process even more streamlined.

The benefits of an online scheduler are that clients can easily see when you are available and arrange a meeting at the click of a button. You can also block out times when you are unavailable or just open up one day a week for client calls.

Or you can simply send out an invite to meeting attendees from your Google calendar. Either way, the key is to automate it to make it as seamless as possible to get on a call or set up a meeting.

Social Media Scheduling

To generate a regular stream of leads and attract your ideal clients as a freelancer, for best results, you need to find a way to continuously market and promote your services.

Nowadays, one of the most common (and free) ways to do this is with a strong social media presence. Naturally, you are not going to have time to be on all the various social media platforms 24/7, and that’s where social media scheduling tools come in extremely handy.

Not only can they schedule your posts in advance, but you can create them all in the scheduler instead of switching between social media platforms. This puts all your social media content on auto-pilot, giving you more time to spend on your business.

Most schedulers can also provide helpful analytics so you can see how well your social media campaigns are doing.

There are plenty of apps and tools to choose from online. Examples include tools such as Hootsuite, Vista Social, Spout Social, Buffer and many more. Just search for one that meets your needs, budget and personal preference.

Onboarding New Clients

They say first impressions count.

So, having a seamless client-friendly onboarding process for new clients will make you look professional, trustworthy, and easy to do business with.

Good communication is vital when onboarding new clients. A slick, automated onboarding process will also save you time.

Onboarding processes can range from pre-discovery call questionnaires, pre-populating standard proposals, automatically connecting client details to your CRM or having a welcome email sequence in place going through your ways of working and requirements, and even follow-up emails to ensure you have all the documents (such as a written agreement) and requirements in place before you commence the client project.

It’s a good idea to go through your current onboarding process, see what is a repeatable action (i.e. something you go through with all your clients) and automate it as much as possible.

Task/Project Management

When working solo, getting tasks completed (and on time) is up to you. There’s no one internal who will give you a heads-up. So it makes sense to have some task reminder or project management system in place where you can add your to-do list and, for project management, even allow clients access.

Having everything in one place and a daily reminder will go a long way to making your business run smoothly. There are lots of apps online that offer some or all of these features.

Examples include but are not limited to, Trello, TikTik, Todoist, Asana, Basecamp and Monday.com.

You’ll likely need to track your time when working on some freelance projects.

Invoice Ninja, a leading free invoicing software for small business invoicing, online payments, tracking expenses and billable tasks, has a task time tracking system in place that allows you to accurately record every second spent on each individual task and quickly transfer timed data to the relevant client invoice.

When you’re done with a task or series of tasks within a project, you can simply click and send your work time to an invoice with one click!

We’ve even got a nifty Google Chrome extension to help.

Quick, simple, and easy!

Invoicing Clients

Finally, when it comes to billing your clients, good invoice software with professionally designed and branded templates is a must-have for any freelancer or small business who wants to come across as professional and trustworthy.

Not only can it save you from having to cobble the invoices together yourself (which, unless you are a design pro, can be cumbersome), but it can also save you from making errors and help you get paid on time. With a range of payment gateways, you can send (and get your invoices paid) at the click of a button.

With Invoice Ninja’s recurring invoices and auto-billing option, you can save time by automatically billing long-term regular clients. Another excellent time-saving feature is the ability to track inventory levels, which automatically updates your product inventory and reminds you when it’s time to re-stock up.

View more time-saving automation features here.

Or try it for free at the link here.

If you know of anyone else who might benefit from this post, please share it.

For a freelancer, scope creep can cause major problems. You could end up doing more work than agreed or planned and, in a worst-case scenario, not getting properly paid for it.

Here are 5 ways to avoid scope creep in a freelancer project.

Agree on the project deliverables at the beginning

At the early stages of the proposed project, before work even commences, it’s helpful to ask the client lots of questions so you can include all the relevant project deliverables in your freelancer proposal.

Consider creating a checklist of project questions to ask at the beginning of every project so you fully understand, and both parties agree to, what’s expected. These include project details such as the duration and who is responsible for what, when and how.

As an aside, it’s worth including a buffer in your price proposal to take into account minimal scope creep.

Once your proposal is agreed upon at the very beginning of the freelancer-client relationship, you can then further nail this down by putting in place a written agreement/freelancer contract.

Some suggestions as to what to include in your freelance contract can be found in our article here. You can, if you wish, include the project details in a separate statement of work, but just ensure you refer to it in the contract. The point is always to have something in writing so you can refer to it throughout the project’s duration.

A rock-solid starting point from the get-go will help mitigate scope creep.

Include a revision policy

If your work allows for revisions, consider including your revision policy in your written agreement.

For example, you could cover up to two free revisions and then charge for the rest or say you will provide an estimate once you’ve gone over the two free revisions.

It may be that you don’t allow for revisions, but the key is to have it in writing and ensure both parties are clear about it.

Endless revisions can impact a project and take up a lot of your time.

Be clear about project meetings

Some projects include weekly or regular meetings.

If so, as well as being clear on the purpose of the meetings at the outset (e.g. ideation, strategy, project status, etc.), you should ensure you are being compensated for your time. A ten-minute client call to ‘pick your brain’ might turn into an hour’s strategy call that could introduce new time-consuming elements to the project.

Always consider if a) a meeting is necessary (could it be an email instead) and b) if you really need to be an attendee. You should be able to excuse yourself from a group meeting if your presence there is unnecessary.

All these details need to be covered in the initial written agreement.

Review the nature of the work

If you are experiencing scope creep, it could be because the nature of the work has changed. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing and can open up more opportunities.

For example, you may have started out providing one particular service, which has morphed into another valuable service or add-on for your client. Once more, ensure any add-ons (and appropriate increases to your project fees) are recorded in writing.

To cover this eventuality, especially at the start of a long-term client relationship, you could consider offering a three-month trial period and increasing the contract period as you go. Each time you agree on a new project duration, you could add or take away services (and bill accordingly).

It’s worth noting that for some freelancer relationships, especially sales and marketing performance-related projects, it could take up to twelve months to show results.

When asked to perform an additional task, a helpful attitude will go a long way to enhancing your freelancer-client relationship. If it’s a skill within your wheelhouse, confirm that you can do that task, but it will have an impact on the current budget and/or agreed time frames.

Otherwise, consider referring the work to another freelancer.

And, of course, if need be, make use of the magic word and learn to say “No” to add-ons that will have a significant impact and/or you would find challenging to achieve.

Track time spent on the project

Keeping track of your time spent on a project means you can easily identify areas or project specifics that take up most of your time. You can also accurately invoice your client for time spent on the project if you charge by the hour.

Always add details of the work you’ve performed on your invoice – even if you are giving a discount.

At Invoice Ninja, our tasks and project features allow you to create projects and tasks and track time spent on billable work. You can accurately record every second spent on each individual task and quickly transfer timed data to the relevant invoice.

When you’re done with a task or series of tasks within a project, simply click and send your work time to an invoice with just 1-click!

We have also created our own Kanban boards, which can be used to plan, update, analyze and maximize the efficiency of your workflows.

Try it for free here.

~

Successfully avoiding project scope creep is largely about maintaining good and open business communications with your client and raising issues and potentially mutually beneficial arrangements as and when they arise.

Whether you’re a life coach, an online fitness coach, a business coach or a career coach, the results you help your clients achieve really matter.

But how do you ensure you get your ‘life-changing’ coaching fees paid on time?

Here are 4 areas to consider:

Make expectations clear from the start

The price you can command for your coaching will depend on several factors. These include, but are not limited to, your experience, the outcome you promise, the results you deliver, and the value of the transformation to your client.

All these aspects should be clear from the start to avoid any confusion and ensure you attract the right fit clients with the right budget. This will be conveyed in your marketing message and positioning.

For example, are you offering high-ticket one-on-one transformations or more budget-friendly group coaching or membership options?

Getting client expectations clear from the start will go a long way to ensuring clients know exactly what to expect (and, just as crucially, when and how to pay).

Put it in writing

Having a written agreement in place to manage expectations on both sides is key.

It not only details the deliverables but acts as a handy reference document to refer to if there are any queries during the coaching program and can also mitigate ‘project creep’.

The written agreement will also outline your payment terms and dates. For example, do you require a full or partial deposit upfront, will you be paid weekly or monthly, or some combination of all of these, depending on the results?

In this document, you should also clearly state your policy for late payment and refunds. You should also consider adding HOW you want to be paid – i.e. by what method. You don’t want to discover down the line that the methods you offer for payment aren’t achievable or accessible for your client.

Getting each party to agree to the terms of the contract at the very beginning should iron out any potential issues later on down the line.

Make the whole process easy and frictionless

From the first client touch point to onboarding to payment – the whole process should be as easy and frictionless for your new client as possible.

This will involve having robust systems and processes in place so your client can enjoy an effortless and smooth experience.

Hiccups in your processes at the beginning may signal to the client that the rest of their experience with you might be troublesome or at least inconsistent, so make sure these ‘first impression’ client touch points are as smooth and streamlined as possible.

Making it easy for them to pay you is a vital defense against late (or non) payment.

Invoice Ninja, a leading free invoice software specifically developed for freelancers and small businesses like you, offers a user-friendly interface for creating and sending professional-looking and custom-branded invoices.

It also supports multiple payment options, making it easier for clients to make payments. It integrates with a range of payment gateways, enabling you to invoice clients and receive payments with a single click.

What’s more, Invoice Ninja has a partial payment feature that can convert a deposit invoice into a regular one once the client has paid the deposit. After your client pays the partial payment (deposit), the invoice will automatically update itself with the balance due and set a new final invoice due date.

These are all features that make you easier to deal with and enable you to get paid fast.

Try it for free here.

Consider different payment options

While some clients will have no problem paying you and will pay upfront via whatever method you stipulate, offering your clients a range of payment options and methods can help with swifter payment. It will also help capture clients who might not have been able to otherwise work with you.

For example, if you offer a transformational coaching package over a set period, you could accept instalments. Putting in place an automated email reminder system to email clients before the invoice is due will also assist with this arrangement.

Alternatively, you could sell your services in blocks of time or per session. This could help with client budgeting.

You may also consider charging a late payment fee. Adding a note to the invoice (and having it in your written agreement) can help avoid late payments.

Finally, you can also consider a positive incentive, for example, adding a reward for early payment (such as an extra bonus from you or an early-bird discount).

~
We hope you found this helpful. If you know anyone else who might benefit, please share.