Subject: Re: Getting paid for a web consulting job



> I don't understand this point.  If you go to a doctor or dentist
> (one of the old-fashioned non-HMO kind), would you expect to pay
> while you're still in the waiting room?  They are just as
> "freelance" as you are.

have you ever gotten past a receptionist without being asked if you have
insurance?   that amounts to a demand for payment.. or at least
assurance that the time the doctor spends with you will be compensated..
in advance.   the entire concept of medical insurance is, essentially,
payment in advance.. not just while you're in the waiting room, but
before you even get sick.



> If by "this business" you mean web/internet development, maybe
> the business just isn't old enough to have developed mature
> business practices.

consider architecture.. that's been around for a while, and its
practitioners generally demand payment in advance.   the difference is
that the architect's trade is less clearly defined than a doctor's.   

doctors aren't licensed to do "surgery".. they're certified for specific
procedures, each performed in accordance with a strictly defined SOP.  
they're required to follow that SOP to the letter, and any deviation can
result in loss of professional standing and criminal liability.

that rigidity makes medicine, if not predictable, at least highly
amenable to itemization under a predefined schedule of fees.   you don't
ask a doctor to submit a proposal, then sit down to negotiate the actual
treatment you'll receive.. you get what they give you, and if they say
an aspirin costs $25, that's what you're going to pay.   


the architect is in the business of designing something new, and
negotiation between the designer and the client is fundamental to the
nature of that business.   the architect, and by extension anyone whose
trade is design, is forced to devote time and resources developing a
proposal for the client's approval before the client is obliged to
commit to the project.

if designers wants to be paid for the labor, materials, and loss of
other business inherent in landing a contract, they have to state that
as a non-negotiable payment to be received before they do the work.


when it comes to web development, there are two additional issues which
make advance payments a responsible choice:

first is the highly speculative nature of the online market.. i've bid
$250K of work so far this year, and half of those projects have already
been cancelled or put on hold.   that's why the freelancer's motto is,
"prospects: excellent; situation: desperate".   the field of medicine
tends to have a greater sense of immediacy.. nobody reschedules an
appendectomy for some time after the start of the next fiscal year.

second, doctors rarely find themselves bidding against someone's nephew
"who's into that sort of thing".


advance payments are a form of accountability.   a client who's willing
to pay a fair price for services rendered will accept the practice,
because it doesn't change the way they were planning to behave.   the
one who wants to be trusted is asking you to give them something for
nothing.. two things in fact, if you look at it closely:  not only do
they want you to do the work, they also want you to demonstrate how much
you trust them.   that's not the kind of person you want to do business
with.