Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?

Re:Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a con... by jimnotgym on Saturday December 07, 2019 @06:45AM (#21729768)

Penalty clauses are not always enforceable. Early payment discounts are...

I mentioned it in my post, but the number one reason a reasonably sized company doesn't pay is that your invoice is not on their ledger. Call their accounts payable dept up after a few days, check they have the invoice, ask them when it will be paid. Don't be shy, this is what they expect!

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Re:Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a con... by m0zg on Saturday December 07, 2019 @11:46AM (#21731160)

Doesn't matter - they work anyway. Nobody in accounts payable is going to get into the details of whether things are enforceable or not. They'll just pay your invoice instead.

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Re:Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a con... by taylortrusty on Saturday December 07, 2019 @01:22PM (#21731714)

This is not a universal truth. Discount incentives work much better.

The clients who pay late will pay their invoices without the late fees anyway, in my experience. Now you’re tracking down payment for your work and the fees.

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Re:Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a con... by m0zg on Saturday December 07, 2019 @06:03PM (#21733203)

>> This is not a universal truth.

Nothing is.

>> Discount incentives work much better.

This is not a universal truth. See what I did there?

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Re:Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a con... by jimnotgym on Sunday December 08, 2019 @05:31PM (#21738885)

It depends, lots of larger professional ap just don't work that way. They don't choose when things are paid. They are trained to look for discounts though

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