Ronald Reagan served as the president of the United States during my high school and college years. He was known as “the great communicator” because he didn’t mince words, yet often remained tactful. I never quite learned how to do that, but one of his quotes stuck with me over the decades: “Trust but verify.”
I like it better than President Calvin Coolige’s “speak softly and carry a big stick.”
This comes up because, like most authors, I don’t make a living from book sales. Sure royalties comprise a hefty portion of my annual income, but not nearly enough to suffice as my entire annual income. So, I freelance as a ghostwriter, editor, proofreader, and book designer. Those are skills I developed in school and later honed in corporate roles before taking them “on the road” with me as a freelance professional.
One issue gig workers confront is fraud. Sure, every business tries to protect itself against thieves, but freelancers often work alone without teams of security professionals to support their actions regarding security. Highlighting this loneliness was a post in the Editorial Freelancers Association’s member forum where members post questions and discuss issues. My “solopreneur” colleague confessed he’d been scammed. I admired his candor.
I prefer to approach each new client from a position of trust, but experience has made me wary. Yes, a scammer duped me once. Therefore, it’s important for a freelance professional to establish some policies to protect his or her business and reputation. Make sure these two policies are stated in your contract for service.
- Never accept a deposit payment for sum other than the desposit. Scammers often pay by check and make the check out for an overpayment. The scammer then requests a refund for the amount over paid. Unfortunately for a trusting soul, that check is fraudulent. If you refuse to accept payment of any check that deviates from the agreed upon amount, then the scammer knows a “refund” for overpayment won’t be coming.
- Insist and enforce a policy that all deposits are nonrefundable. This ensures that a client who terminates a contract early cannot expect a refund of the deposit, thereby getting partially completed work for free.
If you do receive a check, it’s up to you do your due diligence. This is the “verify” part of trust.
- Review the return address on the envelope in which the check is delivered. If it doesn’t match the client’s information, the check is probably fraudulent. Realize, however, there is always the occasional exception. Some clients use check paying services, so the check my actually come from a financial institution.
- Review the payor information on the check itself. If it doesn’t match the client’s infomation, the check is probably fraudulent. The exception, once again, is if the check is from the client’s employer or a check payment service.
- Contact the payor, especially if the payor is a company (such as the client’s stated employer), to verify whether the check is legitimate. Ask to speak with your client or ask to speak with the company’s accounting department and state that you wish to verify the legitimacy of the check. I’ve done this several times; accounting department personnel have never once become snippy with me for asking to verify the payment. In each case, the company’s representative thanked me for bringing the fraudulent check to their notice. Sometimes they asked for me to send them the fraudulent check, in which case I got in the mail to them the next business day. Sometimes they accepted my suggestion to simply shred the check.
Don’t be duped. Scammers don’t care that they’re damaging your relationship with your financial institution or your professional reputation. They’re criminals.
Another policy I maintain, except for a very few specific clients, is never to deliver completed work until payment for service has been received in full. Some of my projects earn thousands of dollars and take hundreds of hours of work. Delivering a completed document before payment is received negates any leverage I have to be paid for my work. Of course, the client who asks me to ghostwrite or edit is also must place his or her trust in me. I recognize that leap of faith a client must take to serve the best interests of the project, so I reciprocate with trust.
Reciprocated trust builds confidence which often results in repeat business.
