Putting Your Foot Down

A month ago, I was working on a freelance project and I had some problems with getting the payment for the work done, even though I already finished the assignments. I’ve already submitted my work and I was just doing some updates that their clients wanted done. I consistently submitted my work on time and also sent email about my payment. Three weeks pass and still no news if my payment was already sent, nothing - no reply to any of my email regarding the payment. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed about the whole thing. I told the story to close friend, and she advised me to put my foot down and stop working on the project until I get the payment due me.


I’m glad I took her advice, what I did was I emailed them back telling them that I will stop doing the modifications until I get my payment. That got their attention really quick, they emailed me back and told me that I should have reminded them. Well, I did remind them and I kept all the email, so I sent them the list of those emails. It really pays to keep records of these types of transactions. I really thought they were not going to pay me and I was ready to write it off as loss for the cost of doing business. But after a few days, they sent an email that they already sending the payment with advance for future modifications I needed to do. So after I received my payment I continued with the modifications and finished the project. I was so happy and relieved that I got paid what was rightfully due me. I’ve always done what they required of me, delivering quality work and submitted on time, so I really thought it was just fair they pay me what they promised.

So anyways, a few days ago, I received an email for another project from the same company. This time they said they were already going to send the payment in advance. I was glad I really put my foot down and asked for my payment, I was really hesitant to do that at first for fear of looking like all I care about is money. But now that I’ve done it, I’m really really glad I did, because not only did I get the payment that I deserved for the past project, but it also made them realized their mistake and corrected course when assigning me new projects. I read this somewhere:

You teach people how to treat you.

I guess that holds not only in personal relationships but also in professional ones.


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