As of this writing, the economy has hit most Americans very hard. This tends to bring out the worst players in business. A false perception of being "cut-throat" as the way to survive these hard times, can damage a companies reputation, in the long run. Some of these "cut-throat" tactics are ways to avoid paying for work done. The responsibility is on us freelancers to protect ourselves from being a victim of these unsavory business tactics.
On of the most common tactics is for a company to "lose" the invoice. This requires you to re-submit your invoice and wait an even longer period, than 30 days, to be paid. This costs you money. It is imperative to make sure that you get the invoice to the right party and confirm that they have received it, just a few days after issuing the invoice. Do not wait until the invoice is due to find out that the accounts payable clerk does not have your invoice.
Be sure to charge a deposit (one third of the total project estimate), a progress payment (another third of the total estimate), and have the final payment due upon delivery. Not all companies will agree to these payment terms, but it is essential that to make all efforts to establish this payment structure, especially if you have never dealt with your client, before.
Create your estimates so that they are tied to the script, or treatment. Be specific that the estimate relies on the script, or treatment, to not change. If the script, or treatment does change, after the estimate has been submitted, then extra charges will apply. Put this in plain text right on your estimate. I always allow a maximum of three "adjustments" to my projects. I define "adjustments" as client requested changes, to the animation, that do not change the content, but are things such as color changes, font styles, timing, etc. If they are content changes they must be items that I did not correctly represent according to the script, or treatment. After the three changes, extra charges do apply. This is important to declare on your estimates. It is in place for that client that keeps changing their mind on color, styles, etc. I'm sure I don't have to elaborate on this scenario.
Finally, getting new business is a long term investment. I join on-line discussion groups, and attend meeting of groups that my clients typically attend. This varies for the type of clients that you will gather, but try to target like minded clients to keep your target client to a manageable level. You don't want to spread yourself so thin that you are not doing an effective job of promoting yourself. I tend to go toward direct marketing as I have most of my clients in this field and I have a good feel for that industry. I also try to target inventors, but I am finding that market hard to penetrate. Not many inventors have the capitol necessary to flesh out a presentation of the "virtual" product using 3D animation. These tend to be long term projects as the "product" is undergoing a constant change as it is being developed. Many inventors, once they actually "see" their product in 3D, will make changes to it based on what they see in the 3D animation. 3D animation actually ends up being a design tool in the invention process.
I hope this helps my fellow 3D animators. Please do not hesitate to contact me with suggestions and/or comments.
