Interesting. After 2 decades of freelancing I have a very different experience, being: The best clients always pay, no matter if you have a contract. The worst clients don't pay even if you have the best contract in place. They don't pay and go to court and try everything to screw you over. Does a good contract help in court: yes. But better yet: only work t&m, abort any client relationship as soon as it is starting to smell fishy and write off the last month if necessary. Lowers the laywer's costs and your own level of anxiety.
But he contemplates many scenarios in which “the client” is fragmented thing. Ie one division contracts you then gets eliminated and the company wants to renege. There “the client” has in a sense stopped existing. So how does your experience work with that?
The same. If the company does not adhere to previous agreements it is rotten anyways and I quit working for them and write off the unpaid month. But, two important things:
1. of course the agreement to work for them is there in written form, with the most basics confirmend by both parties, like: hourly rate, payment window, liability waiver
2. if there are graphic assets in play: permission to use my assets only granted if they have been finished by me and if the rates for finishing have been paid. So if they stop paying me they have a half finished asset without permission to use it.
Added: forgot to mention that as a safeguard I let companies sign off on my hours on a weekly/biweekly basis. Until now every company that did not want to pay also stopped signing off my hours. If signing my hours takes longer than a week (important: always communicate this in a professional manner and beforehand!) I immediately stop working for them until they either sign off in the next three weeks or we part ways. Don't fall for "important person not here for a month". If there is no one else around to sign sth for a month, company is lost anyways, no need to invest any more effort.
I don't have the gifts to be a freelancer, independent contractor, or consultant but periodically revisit this talk. It's a great business lesson for those of us on the customer side to get our stuff together before commissioning work. The old Clients From Hell site was also good for this.
Unfortunately, treating a supplier respectfully doesn't always pay off either. There are jerks everywhere. But, honest dealing is easier on the conscience.
I haven't seen this circulate in a while, and recently some friends in solo contractor-ville seemed to be getting screwed due to not having familiarity with the stuff covered in this talk.
