*Side note: Getting Business, Doing Business, and getting paid for business online

If you decide to venture into the fabulous world of “Doing Business” online getting paid is something that is both easy and difficult (especial if you are doing business with someone you never met or lives far away). To ensure payment there are some safeguards, although they aren’t fool proof they are helpful.

1. Get a paypay.com account; PayPal is great because it allows you to expect credit cards and electronic checks and it ensures payment, they also take 2-5% of each payment transaction, but that’s a small price to pay for all the great services they provide. (I know there are other companies like PayPal out there but PayPal is more commonly used and expected.)

2. Only do business on trusted sites with a good reputation who have a policy on making sure there account holders get paid for there work.

3. Setup and state up front your procedures and rules for doing business. Ex 1. If you aren’t sure how long a job might take, but the client wants a ball park figure. Tell them up front that this price isn’t set in stone. Ex 2. If you prefer to get paid up front or that you only send low res samples and proofs until you get paid in full, say so up front.

4. Try to only do business with people and companies you trust or has a reputation for be trustworthy

5. Avoid taking personal checks (sometimes you can’t, so be sure to only take them from trusted clients, always ask when is a good time to cash it, and tell them you policy on cashing checks and on returned checks).

6. Cross your fingers, say a prayer, and hope that you get your money like you are suppose to because you just never know.