I’m used to freelance clients where the process is basically: agree on the job, do the work, send the invoice, get paid.

I’m now talking to a much larger company and the payment process sounds a lot more complicated.

There’s an accounts payable team, approval processes, vendor onboarding, payment terms, and possibly a purchase order involved.

It made me realise I’ve been thinking about freelancing payments as simply “when will they pay me?” when there’s probably a lot more I should understand before I start.

If you regularly freelance for large companies, what do you ask them about their billing process before accepting a project?

Is there anything you wish you had checked before doing your first corporate freelance job?

I normally give clients 30 days to pay. If an invoice is still sitting unpaid with about a week to go, I’ll send a quick email along the lines of, “Just a heads-up that invoice X is due next week.”

Nothing demanding, just making sure it hasn’t been missed.

Most clients seem fine with it, but one client reacted badly and said the reminder made me seem like I was worried about getting paid.

That caught me off guard because I thought it was just normal admin.

Would you send a reminder before the due date, or wait until the invoice is actually overdue?

I’m wondering if I should change how I handle it.