It's happened to all of us. You show up and nail the gig. Unfortunately, through one circumstance or another you end up getting stiffed.
"If I wanted to deal with money stuff, I would have gone into banking" is what a friend told me one time. I then politely reminded him that eating regularly was something he enjoyed. I understand no one wants to feel like a debt collector. Here are some sensible steps you can take to make sure you get paid. If done right, this can make hiring you an even better experience for the other party as well.
Here's some easy things you can do to this a better experience for you and anyone who hires you.
Get it right from the beginning
Set clear expectations up front with your client. Many problems arise from not discussing how and when you expect to be paid. Some gigs need a contract. There are some great free templates you can use for this. For most though, a simple email with clearly spelled out details like expectations for your time, duration of the gig, and payment will do wonders. Remember, the bride who hired you for their wedding has probably never hired a professional musician before. Spelling it out helps make the experience better for them too.
Let software do the work
There are great tools that will do the work for you. Let the internet do it for you. There are great solutions that will let you send paperless invoices to your client, let them pay through a web portal, and then deposit the money in your bank account. There are great solutions like Freshbooks and Quickbooks that do this. These are paid solutions, but isn't the cost of a couple cups of coffee worth Freshbooks sending a reminder to pay instead of you calling someone?
Ask to be paid
You did the legwork up front and leveraged the help of software, but still didn't get paid. Despite your best efforts, you will still have some cases when someone drags their feet to pay you. Be assertive and ask. You work hard on your craft and deserve to be paid. Nobody likes it, but confident in asking to be paid. If someone doesn't pay you then pay it forward to fellow musicians in your community. Let them know so they can avoid the same situation.
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