Get Paid Before You Start
Set your payment terms before the work begins. Every new client pays before you deliver, and the ones who never would screen themselves out.
By James Schramko · Updated October 2026
A verbal yes is a mood. A deposit is a sale. Most founders book the first one as revenue and start the work. Then they find out which one they had when the first invoice goes unpaid.
Look at your last ten new clients. For each one, write down how much money had landed before you did any work. If the answer is mostly zero, you have been financing your clients. This playbook is about stopping.
Hurt Money
When I was working with Mercedes-Benz, the deposit on an eighty-five thousand dollar car was two thousand dollars. The figure was chosen to hurt. It was small enough that a real buyer paid it without blinking. It was big enough that walking away from it would sting. A buyer who hands over hurt money has made the decision. A buyer who won't has made a different decision, and saves you the trouble of finding out later.
The same rule scales down. For a service at a few thousand dollars a month, a thousand dollar deposit does the job. The amount matters less than the timing. It is paid now, before anything is delivered.
The Deposit Page
Plenty of founders lose the end of their sales calls the same way. The prospect says send me the agreement. The founder hangs up, sends it, and chases a signature for a fortnight while the deal cools.
The fix is one page with a non-refundable deposit on it, and one change in behaviour. When they say send the agreement, don't hang up. Stay on the call, send the link, and watch the deposit land.
Here is the line to remember. If they won't commit one thousand dollars now, they won't commit eight thousand later. The deposit is a filter as much as a payment. The people who object to it were going to object to the invoice too. Now you know that on day one.
Money Up Front, Then Direct Debit
Long projects are where founders carry the most cash risk. The work runs for months and the money trails behind it. If a supplier or a client gets into trouble halfway through, you are the one left holding the cost.
So for any work that runs longer than a month, charge for the start. Then put the rest on a schedule the bank runs. The client carries their share from day one, and the monthly payment arrives without anyone asking for it.
A retainer paid in advance by direct debit buys your capacity for the month ahead. A retainer invoiced after the month is a loan to your client. It carries no interest and no security.
The Price Holds Too
Terms set before the work only hold if the price holds. A buyer who pushes for weeks on price is rarely the buyer who signs. In my experience the buyer who is ready signs fast, at the number you quoted.
I hold my own line the same way. A coach asked me for a discount when he first joined my program. I told him I would feel uncomfortable discounting. I said he was welcome to wait until the full price felt comfortable for him. He paid the full price.
A discount at the start teaches the client that your numbers move under pressure. The next pressure will come at invoice time.
What to Change
Put the price and the terms in writing before you scope the work in detail. A buyer who knows the cost and when it is paid can decide. A buyer given a free scoping session and a vague figure has a reason to keep you talking.
Add a deposit step to every new engagement. One page, a fixed non-refundable amount, paid before a start date is set. Send the link while you are still on the call.
Move retainers to advance billing by direct debit. The first month is paid before it starts. Every month after that is drawn on the same date.
Give nothing away to prove you can do the work. Your case studies, your content and your conversation are the proof. A free trial, audit or first draft moves the risk from the buyer to you. It also tells the buyer you weren't sure they would pay.
Hold the number. Price is a filter for fit. The buyer who argues for weeks and the buyer who signs the same day are two different customers. The terms you set decide which one gets your time.
Self-Diagnostic
How much had each of your last ten clients paid before you started? If the answer is nothing, your terms are the problem, whatever the contract says.
Where in your sales conversation does the money change hands? If it happens after the agreement is signed and the work has begun, move it forward.
When a buyer pushed on price in the last three months, what did you do? If you moved, write down what it cost you over the life of that client.
Who is carrying the cash risk on your longest current job? If it is you, the payment schedule was built for the client's comfort. You can rebuild it.
What To Do This Week
Write your terms on one page. Include the price, the deposit, when the balance or monthly payment is drawn, and what happens if it isn't. Build the deposit page and test it with a dollar of your own. Then take the next enquiry through it. Stay on the call while they pay, and notice how different that start feels.
Quick Reference
- A verbal yes is a mood. A deposit is a sale.
- Hurt money: a deposit big enough to sting if they walk, paid before a start date is set.
- When they say send the agreement, don't hang up. Send the link and wait for the deposit.
- Long jobs: up-front fee, then monthly direct debit. Retainers are paid before the month, never after.
- Hold the price. The buyer who argues for weeks and the buyer who signs fast are different customers.
- Give nothing away to prove you can do the work. The deposit is the proof the buyer gives you.
Writing the terms for your next buyer, before that buyer arrives, is the kind of hour I spend with founders inside Mentor.