Re: Received $600 for a $1200 consulting gig: need advice

<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Well, you may be right, but the bottom line is, what should I DO?
> SHould I email, call, send an invoice noting partial payment, etc?

Anne,

How you contact him doesn't matter so much as that you do contact him.
Personally, I would call, but for some people that is uncomfortable.

To call him is probably best. It won't be as bad as you think it will be.

> I ask all clients to pay in advance of work because I do not want to
> get stuck with collection issues, and because I otherwise cannot plan
> my work schedule.

It seems that you haven't much of a choice but to work for this guy because
you need his money, yet the money you needed didn't come in. I think you're
stuck with this guy for a little while. You need the money, this is one of
few sources for you. Christmas is coming!

You need to ask the important questions: how do I find more clients? How do
I qualify new clients so that I don't get screwed again? How do I build a
business as opposed to this than day-and-night work and worry? How do I get
out of this "Steak and Hot Dogs" lifestyle? These are all great questions to
pose within this newsgroup, as well as these others:

misc.business.moderated
misc.business.marketing.moderated
misc.entrepreneurs.moderated

> The work I do for this client is to find prospects for their
> advertising work, ie mid-size companies needing collateral, media
> buys, etc. This is a brand new account, and we are starting off on the
> wrong foot.

I don't think your customer intended to screw you like this. My bet is that
he was expecting money to come in from one source so that he could pay you,
and that money didn't come in as he expected.

Of course, I could be "projecting" all of this from my psyche. I've been in
the position of Robbing Peter to Pay Roll. Some companies play this game all
the way into bankruptcy court.

Mike