Is this the future of tackling latepayments?
WeTransfer have just launched functionality to support “pay before you download” using their platform. Rather than hitting that link to grab the zip file of assets, and then chasing an invoice - the payment happens before your client gets the work.
Such a small but powerful shift in the workflow of many freelancers.
“I’ll share my work with you on screen, you tell me you’re happy with it, but you’re not getting any of it until I’ve been paid”.
Too many freelancers have their work taken, and then run the gauntlet of chasing down invoices or in many cases, not receiving payment at all.
This doesn’t work for all freelancers - many of us aren’t providing assets and outputs that can be behind a paywall like this, but there are probably similar shifts in how we share work and deliver work which can also be put in place.
For instance, those of us in strategy will almost always present our work on screen or face to face, and then provide a longer form write-up which can be shared and built upon across teams internally.
Personally, I’ve built a tool which prevents proposal ghosting, that forces the client to respond or reject a proposal, saving me time and effort in chasing and wondering what’s next.
There are going to be lots of subtle but smart redesigns of how freelancers work with clients that we’ll see in the coming years, which rebalance the power dynamic and I’m all for it.