If you’re a freelancer, you’ve probably run into this scenario: a client calls with an “urgent” project that needs you right this second! You reluctantly agree to do a preliminary conference call to see what’s going on, and while everyone is thrilled to have you on the team they manage to dance around your questions about 1) when the project officially starts and 2) how and when you’ll get paid.

Keep asking those questions. And don’t stop until they are answered satisfactorily. Producers and project managers especially are very often brought into a project in the early formative stages, even before a proposal is approved. Yet savvy clients understand the value this role brings to the eventual on time delivery and profitability of a given project. So those are the kinds of clients you want. You want clients who will pay you for your time on the conference call and any follow up work you do (such as writing a detailed proposal) before the project gets the green light.

If the project gets approved, everyone on the team will benefit from the up front project planning and know what to expect going forward. And what if the project doesn’t get approved? That happens occasionally. But if you’ve set expectations appropriately by not doing any discovery work or proposal writing on spec you’ll at least get compensated for whatever time you have invested in the project to date. And this might do the whole industry a big favor.