Doesn't match my experience: I have several small clients who pay within a couple of hours of receiving a bill. However they are profitable small clients (and very nice people).
I stopped making websites for friends or 2-person companies for this reason. Besides the pain on their faces when I estimate them how much its going to cost, these are the same people who get an idea in the middle of the project and want to add a dancing and singing cat to the home page.
- I agree, I've had bad experience with both. Be wary of individual/companies who work for clients and outsource their technology to you. Often the specifications will be very vague, and even if you manage to communicate a better level of understanding what THEIR CLIENT actually wants (which takes time and effort..) - you might end up not getting paid, because their client doesn't accept the solution, and doesn't want to pay the guy who hired you.
- Always have signed agreements, ALWAYS, can't stress that enough. Unless you have very good reasons of trust. Chat logs, e-mail conversations, all cool, all legal, but you will always get a yes-no story. Signed agreements are often very clear cut.
= Never agree on doing a revenue share with individuals or smaller companies. They probably won't have a clue what they're doing.
- If you don't believe in the product when you get your first impression on it, you never will. Don't let 'em fool you and convince you otherwise.
This is a good rule of thumb, but the best client I ever had was in the general area of legal services. No more than 6 employees, or at least that's how many email accounts I set up, but paid well, without complaint, and always immediately.
I think it comes down to, looking out for clients that focus on cost instead of value.
It took me a while to make the jump. I started by earning my dues working too hard for two little pay with some small-time clients early on. I built up a decent portfolio that I could show off and started using that to market myself. I sent it as a link to adds I saw on craigslist. I did a couple projects on spec that I worked really really hard on and sent links to the company offering it for free. You'd think that would be a huge risk, and frankly, it is. But in fact, both of the times I did it, I got major clients. Kept building myself from there.
Yes I did. It was very hard work. I combed through hundreds of adds, sent custom replies to several dozen of the most promising and made it clear that I was offering high quality, with the unstated caveat that I was not offering the lowest price. I replied only to adds local to Boston (where I live) and said that I would be happy to come to their location at their convenience. When I did in person interview I dressed very well, and read up extensively on their companies beforehand. I did not even entertain anyone that seemed like a cheapskate or wanted to offer equity.
Advice sometimes isn't worth the (web) paper it's printed on.
But take a long, hard look at the clients you are most successful with. Identify the larger market that fits that criteria. Then, how are you going to compete with the people already in that space?
I think of it the same whether doing a startup, consulting, or pivoting a business.
Don't do work for individuals or very small companies. People are much more reasonable when your fee isn't coming out of their pocket.