First Gig, First Ghosting: My $400 Lesson

So, I got ghosted. Yeah, ghosted. For a $400 payment. In USD. Ouch.

For a little context, I didn't get my first client until I built a legit Facebook profile (which is where most of my ideal clients hang out).

And by 'legit', I mean fresh profile pic, snazzy funnel-building cover photo, updated bio, and actually posting relevant stuff (instead of just memes, which, I used to flood my feed with).

For a good whole month, after cramming all the funnel-building skills, I was out there answering hiring posts with my totally blank Facebook profile. Yeah, I was young, naive, and probably a little delusional too.

Well, of course, I was taught not to have an empty Facebook profile, but I was too shy about putting myself out there, worried about all the judgments. Little did I know, that wouldn't land me any clients!

So, after going faceless for a month, I decided it was 'go big or go home' time. I changed whatever was necessary at that time and put up a post.

(This was my very first real post, and when I clicked 'publish', it hit me, there was no turning back. I had to keep going, keep posting.)

If you're still with me, congrats! You're gonna unwind the most interesting part of the story.

Two weeks after my Facebook makeover, a client spotted me in the comments of his hiring post and reached out, asking for a simple funnel design and build.

After some discussion, we agreed to do $500 ($100 x 5 payments) because he couldn't do a lump sum, which was completely fine with me at the time.

(Everything was smooth sailing here! But hold onto your hats, because this is where everything fell apart.)

First $100 received, work delivered, he left me a good review, and now we just had to wait for the next month for the rest of the payments.

Sounds too good to be true? You betcha.

Well, surprise, surprise, I didn't get a single payment after that. Despite playing payment-chase, he came up with a million excuses. Then, this message:

This is super unbelievable!

Still, I replied nicely, closed the chapter, and never looked back.

Lesson learned.

I wondered if I'd priced it too high as a newbie, or if I should've stuck to two payments. Whatever the reason, I learned it the hard way.

Some say you should collect full payment upfront, some say it's fine with splitting it 50/50. It's completely up to you. Personally, I still stick to the half-half method, and since then, I haven't been ghosted. I always make sure I get that 50% before I even start working.

If you're a freelancer too, make sure you get enough payment and hopefully, you never have to go through the way I had!

With all my heart (and lessons learned),

Elaine