No nets but Sapo.

Photo by Helgi Olgeirsson on Unsplash

A Sapo Net is a type of mesh that has knots and is usually made out of nylon. You might also see them called an “African net sponge”. They’re AMAZING, especially if you live in a dry climate like I do (Colorado) and have lizard skin a lot. I love them. Besides that, I don’t do nets. Not fishing, not basketball, not volleyball (since high school, anyway), and certainly not net payments. 

In this case, I mean the net payments that say “hey, we’re hiring you to do this service, and you’ll get paid within 30/60/90 calendar days”. I don’t do them. I never have. I think it’s bad enough that somehow it became a thing in modern society where you work weeks at a time and THEN get paid after, but in my own personal work it’s something I don’t accept. 

I have my service prices split two ways:

• Projects under a certain amount must be paid in full before I start any work.

• Projects over a certain amount, you can pay half upfront, and the remaining must be paid when we call the project finished and before you get any files or assets. Either way, there is money in my hand before any work starts.

This is absolutely a privilege, and not everyone is able to turn down projects because of the pay structure. It’s also just the way some places have to do business. They have an accounting department to answer to, and as a contractor, you’re not working directly with them. Even if you were, they still have procedures in place. This doesn’t make them a bad business. 

This just makes them a bad fit - for me. And for people who are full-time freelancers, they don’t often have the choice to say no. So why do I decline them?

In my career and with my freelance work, I’ve come across companies that have ranged from a little disorganized to absolutely chaotic. I’ve also come across ones who seemed or started out organized and then became chaotic later. 

When I say chaotic and disorganized, I mean no one talks to anyone else; this department didn’t know what that department was doing, the person in charge of payments went on leave or quit (or got fired) in the middle of everything. Or worse, the company went out of business and just…couldn’t pay people. So you’ve done the work (regardless of size, but bigger is worse), waited 30 days (minimum), just to walk away with nothing, and no one to hold accountable. 

The worst thing I’ve personally had happen was when I was hired to work on a magazine. It was a net 30, and I was still new to design. I did the work - all the design, all the print preparations (this was going to be print and digital) - and did exactly what I was hired to do, with the knowledge that I was going to be paid in maybe a month.

During that month, the co-creators had a fight, the money had been mismanaged, no one got paid, and the magazine got scrapped entirely. It still hasn’t been made. It was also a bit of a rush project (which is always more expensive), so I had to back burner some other projects so that I could work on this one. I lost money in multiple directions.

The danger of this may be a bit higher in smaller organizations, but it’s still a danger that’s there. Refusing to work on those terms sucks in the moment, and it’s definitely a gamble - do you stand firm on not doing those kinds of project arrangements and risk losing out on money? - but it’s one you have to decide if it’s worth taking. 

I don’t, I won’t, and I stand firmly 10 toes down on that. Have I lost out on some projects? YEP. Payment in advance was just not how they worked, and payment in 90 days is not how I worked. So it didn’t work out.   I wasn’t upset. A business is always going to look out for its best interests. You have to do the same for yourself too. 

Plus, I’ve NEVER heard of the bank going, “You know what, you can just pay your mortgage in 30 days when you get paid. It’s all good”. Nah. They want their money when it’s due, and some of these places will be ready to toss you out on your ass if you’re more than a week late. Don’t let people play with your money.