When to send invoices, what to put on them, which payment terms to use and exactly how to follow up, so freelancers and small businesses stop waiting 60 days for money they earned in 10.
Short answer: freelancers get paid faster by invoicing the day work is accepted, using short terms like Net 7 or Net 14, taking a deposit up front, putting a one-click payment link on every invoice, and running the same polite follow-up sequence every time. Most late payments are process problems, not bad clients, so fix the process first.
Think of getting paid as a chain of delays. Each link is a place money gets stuck:
| Stage | Typical cause of delay | What you control |
|---|---|---|
| Work finished to invoice sent | You batch invoicing to "later" | Invoice same day |
| Invoice sent to invoice seen | Wrong recipient, spam folder, no PO number | Confirm billing contact at kickoff |
| Seen to approved | Client needs PO, cost code, or sign-off | Collect these before work starts |
| Approved to paid | Terms are long, payment is awkward | Short terms, card or bank link |
Most freelancers only think about the last row. The first three are where the weeks disappear.
Match invoice timing to the type of work:
The rule that ties these together: the invoice goes out the moment the client has what they paid for. If you deliver on a Friday afternoon, send the invoice Friday afternoon.
An invoice that is missing information gets bounced back by accounts payable, and nobody tells you for two weeks. Include:
Ask for the billing contact, PO process and entity name during onboarding. It is a two-minute question that saves weeks later.
Net 30 became the default because big companies use it, not because it suits freelancers. For most freelance and small business work:
Put the terms in the contract or proposal, and repeat them on each invoice. A client who signed "payment due within 14 days" has much less room to treat your invoice as low priority.
A deposit does two jobs. It proves the client can and will pay, and it means you are never more than one milestone of work exposed. A common structure for a website project:
Tie the last step to something the client wants. "Final files and admin access are released on payment" is a fair, clearly stated term.
Every step a client has to take is a chance to postpone. Remove them:
Write this once, schedule it in your invoicing tool, and stop feeling awkward about it. It is a system, not a personal request.
| When | Message |
|---|---|
| 3 days before due | "Quick reminder that invoice #1042 for $2,400 is due on Friday. Payment link: ..." |
| Due date | "Invoice #1042 is due today. Let me know if anything is needed on your side to process it." |
| 7 days overdue | "Invoice #1042 is now a week overdue. Could you confirm when payment is scheduled?" |
| 14 days overdue | "Invoice #1042 remains unpaid. Per our agreement, work is paused until the balance is settled, and late fees apply from [date]." |
| 30 days overdue | Phone call, then a formal letter or a small claims process if needed |
Two details matter. Always restate the invoice number, amount and link, because the email may be forwarded to someone who has never heard of you. And at the 7-day mark, ask a question ("when is it scheduled?") rather than making a demand; it usually surfaces the real blocker, like a missing PO.
Late fees work mainly as a signal that you take terms seriously. They must be agreed in your contract, and what you may charge depends on where you and your client are. In the UK, businesses can claim statutory interest and fixed compensation on late business-to-business payments; other countries and US states have their own rules. Check locally, write the term into your contract, then apply it consistently or not at all.
If you are the business paying freelancers, the same principles run the other way:
Put 20 minutes on your calendar every Friday:
Consistency beats clever tactics. A client who knows you invoice promptly and follow up on schedule tends to pay promptly.
Clients pay faster when you look established. A simple site that states your services, process and payment terms sets expectations before the first call, and a page explaining how you work (deposit, milestones, terms) means nobody is surprised by the first invoice. If you do not have one yet, We.Inc builds a professional service site from a short chat description, with hosting and SSL included; see pricing for plans. For more on what to put on it, read what makes a good website.
Send it the same day the billable milestone is delivered and accepted, or on a fixed day each month for retainers. The delay between finishing work and invoicing is pure lost time, because the client's payment clock only starts when the invoice arrives.
Shorter than you think. Net 7 or Net 14 is reasonable for most freelance work, and "due on receipt" works for small jobs. Net 30 or longer only makes sense when a larger client's accounts payable process genuinely requires it, and then you should agree it in the contract before work starts.
For project work, yes. A deposit of a fixed share of the project (many freelancers use somewhere between a quarter and a half) filters out clients who were never going to pay and funds your time before delivery. Invoice it on signing and do not start until it clears.
Use a scheduled, neutral sequence: a friendly reminder a few days before the due date, a short note on the due date, then firmer messages at one and two weeks overdue that restate the amount, the invoice number and the payment link. Keep it factual and pause further work if the contract allows it.
Usually, if it is written into your contract and stated on the invoice, but the rules on how much you can charge vary by country and state. Check the local rules (the UK, for example, has statutory late payment interest for business-to-business debts) before setting a figure.
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