Your Freelance Client Doesn’t Want the Project You Just Finished

How a Kill Fee lets you keep your money and the rights to the work

There are a lot of guidelines you should have in place before moving forward with a project — and most of them revolve around making sure you get paid (and get paid on time). 💰

Some writers won’t even consider working with a client without a contract — I’m not one of them. But I do have requirements, and I’m pretty rigid about making sure they’re met.

To start, I prefer to communicate as much as possible via email. And if a phone call does take place, I send a recap email so that everything’s in writing and both parties have it.

I also have a mini-contract built into my PayPal invoice. According to PayPal, when a customer pays an invoice, they automatically agree to whatever you’ve listed in the Terms and Conditions section.

That doesn’t mean the client won’t put up a fight if they’re unhappy with something. (Plus, they probably didn’t actually read that part of the invoice.) However, PayPal is more likely to be on your side if the client asks for a refund for something you’ve stated you won’t refund in the Terms and Conditions. 😅

5 Things That Are Normal When You Work with Clients (and 3 That Aren’t)

I’ve used contracts in the past, and they didn’t stop clients from breaking them.

Since a lot of people will sign a contract without thoroughly reading it, I’ve found that guidelines are less clear with the use of a contract. And according to my lawyer, in most cases, it would cost more to go to court than what I lost. 😡

In the place of a contract, I have standard guidelines that I adapt and email to each client, plus a lengthy PayPal agreement. A main component of the PayPal Terms and Conditions is a Kill Fee.

I have a 50% Kill Fee, which is higher than the industry standard (but more than reasonable for a freelancer, if you ask me).

With my Kill Fee, if the client rejects the work or cancels the project, I will refund 50% of what was paid, and I will also retain the rights to the work.

The client gets half their money back — the other half covers the work I’ve already done — and they cannot use any of the work I did for them.

My personal feeling about the Kill Fee is similar to how I feel about other business agreements and contracts: It’s not in place in case something goes wrong (though it’ll help) — instead, it’s there to prevent something from going haywire.

Having a Kill Fee communicates, “I operate professionally. Don’t take advantage of me.” 💪

It tells clients that they need to have their ish together before hiring me for a project. Why? Because they won’t get their money back or have anything to show for what they spent if they screw around.

P.S. Having a Kill Fee works best if you charge for projects upfront. Otherwise, you’ll be chasing a client, trying to get them to pay you for work that they weren’t happy with and that they can’t use — good luck.

4 Terrible Clients We’ve All Had to Deal With

The truth is, I’ve never had to give a 50% refund.

A couple of times, I’ve given a 100% refund and retained the rights to the work — which is totally fair since the client didn’t pay anything in the end.

I’ve also offered the 50% Kill Fee refund, clearly explaining that the client doesn’t get to use the work. The client’s always opted to continue working with me, and we’ve respectfully parted ways once they received a project they were satisfied with.

I’ve gone down swinging over my Kill Fee.

One time, I was ready to turn down a great opportunity with a marketing agency because they asked me to lower my Kill Fee, along with a few other adjustments to my requirements. The Kill Fee was non-negotiable, and they ended up agreeing to it. 🏆

If you’re going to use a Kill Fee, remember this: It’s there for you to retain the client, not keep the pay and the project while the client unhappily goes on their way.

When a not-yet-satisfied client asks for a refund, you can point to your Kill Fee and remind them of its details. The hope is that they get over the decision they were about to make and cooperate with you so you can finish the project in a way that makes them happy.

As the wonderful, talented professional you are, you want to reasonably deal with this type of setback and give the client a project they’ll be able to use. Even if you vow to never work with them again in the future.

You’re going to want these 3 free email templates, created for freelance writers who know their worth. Download it now for zero dollars.

You can buy me a coffee if you like my writing! It would very much make my day :) And thank you SO MUCH for reading my work.