Choose to Be Happy at Work
Happiness is mostly a choice. You can choose to be happy at work. It sounds simple, but it's often difficult to put into action. We all wish to have the best employer in the world, but, let's face it, we may not.
So, think positively about your work. Dwell on the aspects that you enjoy about work, and avoid negative people and gossip. Find coworkers you like and spend your time with them. Your choices at work largely define your experience. You can choose to be happy at work.
- Introduction
- Getting Started
- The Gig Economy: Key Facts
- Sites for Finding Gig Jobs
- Apps for Starting a Side Hustle
- Create an Online Portfolio
- Small Business Websites
- Taking Your Hustle Full-Time
- Gig Ideas
- Lucrative Side Hustles
- Highest-Paying Gigs of 2018
- White-Collar Side Hustles
- Freelance Writing
- Work-From-Home Hustles
- Side Hustles for Retirees
- Taxes for Freelancers
- Sharing Economy 101
- Deducting a Home Office
- Self-Employment Taxes
- Tax Reform and the Gig Economy
- Filling Out Form W-9
- Estimated Tax Payments
- Getting Paid
- Negotiating Your Rates
- How Contractors Get Paid
- Freelancing Contracts
- When You Don't Get Paid
- Should You Work for Free?
It might happen to every freelancer at some point. The client delays, forgets, or outright refuses to pay you for work you've done. Whether you're a freelance graphic designer or copywriter, you're probably reading this because you have a client who hasn't paid for that project you worked so hard on. When it comes to making sure you get paid, you have several options from simply following up to taking your client to court. But as with any business dealing, it's best to start with the least damaging route.
The first step is always to reference your contract.
Examine Your Contract and Resend Your Invoice
Hopefully, you took the time to create a contract that you and your client both signed before starting the work. In that contract, you stated the payment terms such as how much you were to get paid and when. You also stated the late fees that would be charged if the client failed to pay within your time frame.
If you did all of this and you sent your invoice only to find that you are still waiting to be paid, go ahead and send the invoice a second or even a third time. Follow up invoices are perfectly acceptable, but don't start sending your invoice on a daily basis. Send an invoice and wait a couple of weeks before moving on to the next step.
You can even send a polite note with your mailing to let them know you're re-sending the invoice. A simple note could say that you're re-sending in case the client didn't receive your first invoice.
Things do get lost in the mail so even if the client is avoiding you, this simple act of following up shows that you're giving your client the benefit of the doubt. You might find a check in your mailbox by the end of the week. Or, your suspicions about avoiding payment may be confirmed.
If you're dealing with a client who won't pay and you don't have anything in writing, send them a letter along with the same lines as you would if you had a contract. You can tell the client you agreed on a payment amount and the terms and you're just writing to follow up to see when the check would be sent.
Write to the Business Manager
Most freelancers aren't dealing with the person who pays the bills for the advertising agency or client company. You may be dealing with a contact person in the creative department because that person knows what's going on with the project, which likely means that you're not dealing with the person writing the checks and balancing the books.
A letter or email to the company's business manager, with a copy of your invoice and signed contract (showing both your signature and the clients), will generally do the trick.
You can find out who the business manager is by calling the company and asking for that person's name. Don't go into detail about who you are or that you want to talk to that person. Just find out the business manager's name and contact information.
In your letter or email, tell the business manager the date you completed the project and that you have included a copy of the contract both you and their company representative signed as well as the outstanding invoice. Be courteous and professional, but don't also hesitate to state how many days the invoice is past due.
If you've added late charges to the bill because your initial contact person didn't respond with a payment, consider dropping those late charges and letting the business manager know that you are willing to do so if the bill is paid promptly. You can even set a date by which you require payment to keep those late charges from being added to the bill. Even though your right to collect late fees may be stated in your contract, this act of goodwill can result in faster payment and fosters the possibility of a continued working relationship with the company.
Pick Up the Phone
Sometimes a phone call is more effective than several letters or emails. If you're ready to make a call, contact the business manager.
When you get in touch with this person, you can ask if they received your letter or email. This question will open the door for them to discuss your situation. Generals zero hour reborn download. They'll say they have no idea what you're talking about, tell you the check's in the mail, or they'll start telling you why they're not planning on paying you.
If they say they don't have any idea what you're talking about, offer to resend the information. If the check is on the way, tell them you're glad to hear it and look forward to receiving it. If they say they're not planning on paying you, find out their reasoning. You may be able to resolve the issues in that very conversation. If you find that you're still struggling to agree and it looks like you're not going to get paid, the next logical step may be a final, certified letter.
Send a Certified Letter
You can send a certified letter to a particular person to make sure you're invoice and letter is received or even to let them know you're planning on taking this to the next logical step in your pursuit of payment. What you'll often find with certified letters is that they're often ignored.
Certified letters are more beneficial to you when you're prepared to take the battle to court. Your certified letter can let the client know you're about to file a lawsuit to get the money you're owed.
Tell them if you don't hear from them by a certain date, you're headed down to the court to file the papers. Just be sure you give them another reasonable amount of time and don't send your certified letter on a Monday with the demands that you receive your check by Friday.
Take Them to Court
Your professional attempts to rectify the situation have gone unnoticed, and it's clear this client is going to avoid paying you at all costs. This is the time when you take your battle to court if you're interested in pursuing the situation further. Many lawyers will give you advice for free on the phone on how to handle your case.
Unfortunately, if you're at this stage, you're standing at a point in the road most freelancers don't want to deal with. You should get paid for the work you've done, but are you willing to take your client to court? Is it worth the time, effort, and attorney fees? Your final decision is to choose between filing a lawsuit or writing this whole experience off and moving on without taking any legal action.
End the Client Relationship
Thankfully, most freelancers find that their payment issues can be resolved with the business manager and they don't have to deal with phone calls, certified letters, or lawsuits. If you've followed the rules of professionalism and courtesy, the client shouldn't have any problems dealing with you in the future. But the real question is--do you want to do business with them?
If you are going to have to fight for your money every time you complete a project, you may find it's better to let that client deal with some other freelancer. Sometimes it's best to be the one to walk away from a troublesome client, or you may find yourself dealing with this very situation again.
There are an endless amount of characters in the workplace.
There’s the lady you find in the break room, always on a diet and commenting on your weight (God help you if you are proportionate, she will eat you alive). The guy who shows off way too many baby pictures of his not-that-cute-kid. The girl who stays in her office with the door shut, even during fire drills. And the dreaded over-talker who never gets the hint (which might explain why that one girl stays in her office).
We all play roles in our workplaces, many of which are unique to only our office. But there’s a standard cast of characters as well. You can find varieties of them anywhere you go, but they all share the same skill sets. They are the ones who will succeed and the ones who will fail.
In lieu of filling you with fluffy “this is what a successful person looks like” talk, I thought I’d take the opposite route. The following is a list of people who stand out for all the wrong reasons. Fair warning: If you don’t know who this person is at your office, it might be you.
The Gullible One.
If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that you should never believe everything a company says. Don’t believe them when they say they don’t expect layoffs (the mere mention of that word suggests they’re on the way). Don’t believe that they’ve offered you the highest salary they can. Don’t believe them when they say they can’t negotiate your raise. And definitely don’t believe them when they say “this year has been really bad, but next year you’re going to get hooked up on that promotion you want!”
When a boss, HR rep or recruiter (or anyone playing a role in your career and financial success) states something that makes you tilt your head to the side and think “huh…that seems sketch,” don’t just accept it.
As I’ve said before, the car dealer will act like he can’t budge on a number. But if you stand up and start walking to the door he’ll automatically find a discount for you. Companies are in it for the bottom line even when they’re negotiating things with their employees. They want to encourage you to stick around while also finding a way to save money. And it saves them money to give you a smaller raise, to skip a round of promotions, to make you work through Christmas. Don’t fall for it.
The Groupthinker.
Groupthink is a psychological problem that runs rampant in workplaces. Even more if you’ve got a large population of “longtermers” in a corporation. Groupthink is why technology isn’t updated, why policies are outdated, why there’s no new blood (or ideas) on a team, why you hear the sentence “you can’t do that, that’s not how we’ve always done it!”
It’s easy to spot these people, especially if you’re new to a company. They sit in clumps together and they make bizarre statements in meetings, they do the same things every day and they complain when their life is disrupted by something (or someone) new.
If you fight against a mass of groupthinkers, you run a high risk of failure, persecution, derailment and tons of frustration. But if you engage and join them, you will become stupid and possibly unmarketable for your next career jump. Take your pick.
The Fearful One.
People do ridiculous things when they’re scared. Just ask anyone who’s died in a horror movie (I mean, who drops the phone and runs up the stairs?!).
Fearful people will cause you serious amounts of trouble at work. If they’re scared of getting fired, they will find a way to point a finger at you. If their project is failing, they will suggest your role was to blame. Drowning people will grab whatever they can to keep their head above water. Don’t stand too close and become that object.
And don’t become the drowning person. If you ever feel worried about something at work, you sense something bad coming your way or you screw up big time, avoid the fear by taking some action. Talk to someone, your boss, your mentor or a peer to get information that will quell your fears. Or fess up and find out immediately what repercussions are headed your way for the screw-up so you’re not worried about the unknowns. Do whatever you need to do in order to avoid becoming the fearful one.
Apathetic Guy.
The other day, a friend of mine posted a message on Facebook stating her frustration that people keep calling her upcoming maternity leave a “vacation.” She mentioned a litany of things that have to be done while you’re on maternity leave (none of it sounded remotely vacation’ish). She referenced this because she felt judged and persecuted for her decision to take the time off.
Consider now the single person. If you haven’t been in this demo for awhile, you might not be aware of this, but single people are also victims of workplace apathy. I’ve actually heard the sentence, “You can stay late tonight to finish this, right? I gotta get out of here and it’s not like you’re going home to a family.”
Hashtag awkward.
Everyone is dealing with something. Everyone feels judged and misunderstood every once in awhile. And everyone feels the sting from these moments. Show some compassion even when you’re having trouble putting yourself in their shoes.
Don’t be the apathetic coworker. The grass isn’t always greener, even though it may appear so.
The Sore Loser.
Anytime you’re successful or experience something great in life or your career, I guarantee you that someone somewhere will doubt that you earned it the good ‘ol hard-working way. That someone somewhere is the sore loser.
You Work For Them Graphics
A sore loser will think you got that deal because you’ve got an important last name. Or that you were hired because your Mom sits in the corner office. Or that you simply got lucky (literally and figuratively).
You can’t stop a sore loser from thinking what they want and you can’t convince them out of their opinion. The only way to battle a sore loser is to make sure they’re not right (it might surprise some of you ladies that yes, business can indeed be conducted outside the bedroom!).
Update: It's been called to my attention by several female readers that the comment above was offensive and diminishes the hard-earned success of females in the workplace. I realize now it was a poor example and misrepresented the very reason I have this column. It wasn't my goal to suggest that women are perpetuating a Mad Men-era stereotype and that men are absolved of their roles in these scenarios. While it exists, this in fact is NOT a common problem in the workplace. I mentioned it as merely a side note to emphasize the importance in making sure "Sore Losers" are not making accurate accusations by carrying yourself properly in the workplace.
Use your connections and your network to get ahead, but do your own dang work. Show results. Then the sore losers will disappear one by one.
Malicious Gossiper.
There’s harmless gossip and then there’s malicious gossip. Harmless gossip is…harmless. But you must avoid the malicious gossiper completely. In fact, put large amounts of space between you and this person.
Assume that since they’re willing to share really bad information with you, they’re sharing it with other people. They’re kind of like the flu.
If you run across a malicious gossiper and they start talking, whatever you do, don’t agree with them. Because the next thing you know, your sentence of “Oh, I agree with you – I bet she totally slept with that guy to get that job” will be shortened to “So and so just told me that so and so slept with so and so!” And voila, you’re screwed.
The Apologizer.
I recently attended an event where several startups were invited to pitch. One woman stood up to sell her idea to a room undoubtedly full of millions, a big opportunity for a small company. She looked sharp and ready. But then she opened with, “Don’t worry, this isn’t a crappy website that does blah…”
Well shoot. For the remainder of her presentation, I assumed her website was crappy.
The Apologizer will discredit themselves as soon as they open their mouth. They will start a presentation with qualifying statements like the one above or they will ask for a raise by saying, “I know we don’t have a lot of money, but..” They lose these deals because they show a massive lack of confidence in the statement, regardless of topic.
You don’t necessarily have to avoid this person. Just don’t be this person. The company pays you a salary because they think you’re worth it. You have every right to be in the room and to be having that conversation right then. Why act like you don’t belong there?
Repeat the following statement as many times as you need to before you have an important conversation or make a presentation: Be confident, not cocky.
Then own the heck out of it. Your career depends on it.
Also on Forbes:
Facebook stating her frustration that people keep calling her upcoming maternity leave a “vacation.” She mentioned a litany of things that have to be done while you’re on maternity leave (none of it sounded remotely vacation’ish). She referenced this because she felt judged and persecuted for her decision to take the time off.You Work For Them Madina
Consider now the single person. If you haven’t been in this demo for awhile, you might not be aware of this, but single people are also victims of workplace apathy. I’ve actually heard the sentence, “You can stay late tonight to finish this, right? I gotta get out of here and it’s not like you’re going home to a family.”
Hashtag awkward.
Everyone is dealing with something. Everyone feels judged and misunderstood every once in awhile. And everyone feels the sting from these moments. Show some compassion even when you’re having trouble putting yourself in their shoes.
Don’t be the apathetic coworker. The grass isn’t always greener, even though it may appear so.
The Sore Loser.
Anytime you’re successful or experience something great in life or your career, I guarantee you that someone somewhere will doubt that you earned it the good ‘ol hard-working way. That someone somewhere is the sore loser.
A sore loser will think you got that deal because you’ve got an important last name. Or that you were hired because your Mom sits in the corner office. Or that you simply got lucky (literally and figuratively).
You can’t stop a sore loser from thinking what they want and you can’t convince them out of their opinion. The only way to battle a sore loser is to make sure they’re not right (it might surprise some of you ladies that yes, business can indeed be conducted outside the bedroom!).
Update: It's been called to my attention by several female readers that the comment above was offensive and diminishes the hard-earned success of females in the workplace. I realize now it was a poor example and misrepresented the very reason I have this column. It wasn't my goal to suggest that women are perpetuating a Mad Men-era stereotype and that men are absolved of their roles in these scenarios. While it exists, this in fact is NOT a common problem in the workplace. I mentioned it as merely a side note to emphasize the importance in making sure 'Sore Losers' are not making accurate accusations by carrying yourself properly in the workplace.
Use your connections and your network to get ahead, but do your own dang work. Show results. Then the sore losers will disappear one by one.
Malicious Gossiper.
There’s harmless gossip and then there’s malicious gossip. Harmless gossip is…harmless. But you must avoid the malicious gossiper completely. In fact, put large amounts of space between you and this person.
Assume that since they’re willing to share really bad information with you, they’re sharing it with other people. They’re kind of like the flu.
If you run across a malicious gossiper and they start talking, whatever you do, don’t agree with them. Because the next thing you know, your sentence of “Oh, I agree with you – I bet she totally slept with that guy to get that job” will be shortened to “So and so just told me that so and so slept with so and so!” And voila, you’re screwed.
The Apologizer.
I recently attended an event where several startups were invited to pitch. One woman stood up to sell her idea to a room undoubtedly full of millions, a big opportunity for a small company. She looked sharp and ready. But then she opened with, “Don’t worry, this isn’t a crappy website that does blah…”
Well shoot. For the remainder of her presentation, I assumed her website was crappy.
The Apologizer will discredit themselves as soon as they open their mouth. They will start a presentation with qualifying statements like the one above or they will ask for a raise by saying, “I know we don’t have a lot of money, but..” They lose these deals because they show a massive lack of confidence in the statement, regardless of topic.
You don’t necessarily have to avoid this person. Just don’t be this person. The company pays you a salary because they think you’re worth it. You have every right to be in the room and to be having that conversation right then. Why act like you don’t belong there?
Repeat the following statement as many times as you need to before you have an important conversation or make a presentation: Be confident, not cocky.
Then own the heck out of it. Your career depends on it.
Also on Forbes:
Molly is a co-founder and Executive Producer of The Haul Company, the founder of GlassHeel.com and a freelance writer covering business, leadership and innovation. She loves to burn off her ADD by destination running and hanging out with her retired racing greyhounds. Follow Molly on Twitter @MollyCain.
Understand what is involved in a CIA career before seeking to join the CIA. While the spying side of the CIA might be the seeming glamor filled side you're hankering after, the Directorate of Operations (or 'clandestine service' where the spies are located), is but one part of the CIA and a small part at that. The majority of CIA employees work in analytical positions, language positions and science, engineering, and technology positions.[1] Matching your skills and aptitude to what you're best suited for may not see you working in the clandestine service positions at all, so be ready for this possibility. In addition, be prepared to become part of a family when joining the CIA, with expectations to uphold deep loyalty to others, and with possible ramifications on your outside-work socializing and relationships.- Whatever your position, a role in the CIA means that you're part of the first line of defense in a warning and protecting your fellow citizens. You will be working with people possessing high integrity, perception, analytical ability, and intellectual curiosity.
- You'll be expected to work in teams on many occasions, so you will have to have strong team skills.
- You'll be able to pursue career goals within the CIA and it's hoped that you'll remain with the CIA for the duration of your career.
- The Agency has its own community. The reason for this stems from the academic environment, as well as the nature of the work performed and the mission of the CIA. The CIA's George Bush Center has its own food court, fitness facilities, formal gardens and walking paths, company store, recreational and activity clubs, and artwork on display. In addition, there is a museum, a library, and the usual offices.
- The Agency considers its community a family, employing people from nearly all fields of study, united in their work and their service to the country.
- Before even embarking on the process of becoming a CIA officer, [2] do some thorough background reading on what the CIA is about, what CIA officers do (not just spying.), as well as finding out about how much of the spying isn't what you'd gleaned from movies and TV shows.
As a business owner, when another person performs work for you, you must first correctly classify that person as an independent contractor or employee.
If the person is an independent contractor, refer to Forms and Associated Taxes for Independent Contractors for your tax responsibilities.
If the person is classified as an employee you must have an Employer Identification Number (EIN). Your tax responsibilities include withholding, depositing, reporting, and paying employment taxes. You must also give certain forms to your employees, they must give certain forms to you, and you must send certain forms to the IRS and SSA.