Friend expecting me to work for free

Dear Ms Feeky Chucker,

Find enclosed your bill to date. Please pay promptly as no more work can be undertaken until your account has been settled.

Yours Sincerely, your good but not completely stupid friend, unpaid1.

“Hi friend, before I decide on whether to complete this task we really need to talk about payment, I can’t continue spending this much time helping you for free as it’s becoming so time consuming it is a second job. I wouldn’t have said anything if it was the odd initial help but it’s become more constant now.

Happy to discuss rates otherwise I don’t think I’m in a position to keep doing this but I wish you all the success.”

Your friend is absolutely taking the piss in expecting you to simply work for her for no reason.

And if in future, someone you are working for is a friend or someone you know, having expectations laid out in advance is even more important as it will protect your friendship and avoid misunderstanding.

Communicate with her. As she hasn’t been proactive about discussing your payment, take the initiative and charge what you feel is reasonable. Chat GPT can help you establish this if you type in your role and experience level. As a freelance you must agree the terms before you start a job.

How long has this been going on for?

Decide your payment terms (30 days in view of her being a new start up?).

Send her an invoice for all hours worked prior to May, and request she settles it asap.

Hopefully this will wake her up and you know where you stand regarding future work. If she doesn’t acknowledge or pay up, I would say you can’t do anything further until you are paid.

Then I would invoice her towards the end of this week for work done in May.

You need to put together a simple contract for clients that clearly sets out these expectations.

Good luck!

You need to be more direct now. I can understand why you'd question haven't but she's quite happy letting you feel awkward and not know whether / when you're getting paid so you need to ask her outright what the payment situation is before you do any more work.

I voted YABU for working for free - my apologies for getting the buttons wrong.

You don’t need to ask her for another meeting - it’s clear she will fob you off or kick the can down the road - further delaying payment.

You have nothing in writing so any small claims court enforcement for pay is going to be tricky.

As PPs advised: set an hourly rate (don’t undercharge !!!) and bill her for work done. Advise her in your email that any further work will be completed once paid.

In terms of business there’s no room for friendship or being polite when someone is taking the mick , which she quite clearly is. Say quite clearly you are unable to do any more work until you have been paid for the last lot and have agreed how much/when you’ll be paid going forward.

just send her an invoice and asap, then she will either pay up or stop using your services

Be circumspect about your reason for not doing any further work, say you are busy or don’t have time and just keep avoiding it and wait for the conversation about payment.

Of course a freelancer can and should be paid before the business is paid. If the friend doesn’t have a buffer she shouldn’t be letting others work for her at all while her business isn’t viable.

Just tell her you can’t do anymore, until proper payment has been dicussed & she pays you for the work you’ve already done.

It’s not a normal message by a long way.

You are working for free unless you tell her what your rate is and send her an invoice. I’m sure she is expecting this also.

Consider also an agreement between the two if you - lots of templates online.

Getting the commercial terms pinned down is something both parties can ‘hope’ the other will sort. I hope she isn’t also doing this with clients as her consultancy may not last too long.

Send an invoice.

Set out details of all the time that you’ve have ‘worked’ for her so far, give that to her and tell her when you expect the payment . Do this on a periodic basis, monthly, fortnightly, however you feel inclined and inform her that unless she pays for services she cannot expect compliance and support!

I voted YABU because you started doing work for her without agreeing pay rate, terms, etc and getting it in writing. If you were starting a new job for a 'regular' employer, would you do that?

She is expecting you to do work to a professional standard. So behave like one.
Send an invoice for the work you’ve done already and send an estimate/ quote based on an hourly rate for the next piece of work.
Ask her to confirm she agrees the quote & a delivery date for the work before you do it.
Tell her you are giving her a 20% discount or whatever for mates rates.

Wht on earth didnt you speak about being paid?. Thats wild. You are friends and now both ofbyou will feel shafted.

I doubt it. The thread title is inaccurate, unsurprising as the OP can't bring herself to have set the rate of pay straight out and this is mirrored in ascribing untrue behaviour to the CF which the OP could and should have had sorted out at the start.

It's all avoidance behaviour on the part of the OP.

Just invoice her! Why are you being so wet?

OP, your friend is being a dick but how have you started without a simple written agreement in place? Recipe for nonsense.

You need to be brave and come out with it: 'Sorry X, I can't do any more work until I've been paid for the first lot as I'm struggling for time now.'

And see what she says.

Don’t do any more work until you’ve been paid and arrangements for future are agreed.
Assuming you are still doing your usual job you are working for a competitor and it could be seen as moonlighting ?

What about the tax implications ?

Aside from that do not ask how much she will pay you - tell her your rate and make it high enough it can be negotiated down a bit

And stop jeffing hinting. Are you a child? ?

I agree she’s not a friend so you’ve got nothing to lose

"Hi, what hourly rate would you like me to put on my timesheet?"

Send draft timesheet (with work done so far) minus hourly rate.

Discussion: It's best if I keep a timesheet and you authorise those so I can invoice you monthly.

Are you the c f ?