When I was younger (even as far back as a young child) my dream was to have my cross stitch designs published in the craft magazines I used to buy. I sent my portfolio to several well known magazines in the late 90s and was continually rejected then one day around nine years ago out of the blue I was contacted by an editor of a well known craft magazine who asked if I would design for them
As you can imagine I was kinda starstruck! It was a dream come true at first but it has been a steep learning curve into the world of freelance design and this world is perhaps not what you might think it is.
This is what I've learned.....
- Always issue them with a Terms of Business agreement right at the beginning of the relationship and before taking on any design work. I didn't do this in the beginning, I was inexperienced and was so excited they had picked me I just did as they asked without my business head on!
- Don't be fobbed off with the idea that they only pay once the design is published, Regardless of whether it's published or not you've put the work/ideas in and should be paid for that within reasonable time (30 days date of invoice is a generally accepted timescale in business) You don't give open ended credit!
- If they aren't paying me on time then it's likely they aren't paying any other contributers/employees/suppliers promptly. I was worried that it was just me they were taking advantage of but after some research and discussions with other designers it is apparent that making designers wait months and months for payment and giving excuse after excuse as to why they haven't paid (if they actually respond to your emails at all!) is common practise by this particular magazine.
- Keep excellent records of communications/emails/invoices/payments so that when it goes wrong (or they lie) you have all the facts and can refer back to those when needed. I would go as far to say that I have experienced gaslighting and having accurate records was vital.
I've built my business up for 18 years now and have a substantial following across socials (around 200k of you which never ceases to amaze me!) and a very loyal customer base and despite imposter syndrome still rearing it's head regularly I've realised now that the dream hasn't been the reality and I don't need to be spending time or stressing out over the perpetual chasing of invoices. At times it has given me an unnecessary level of compounded anxiety having to continually chase payments. I've lost sleep, I've cried, I've doubted myself and my ability. Confrontation doesn't come easy to me and there has been many a sleepness night over the last few years worrying about how to get my money.
The owners of this particular media company do everything they can to stall paying designers, avoid responding to emails and avoid taking accountability. Part of me was relieved that it wasn't just me they singled out but ultimately I'm really cross that my fellow designers are being treated just as badly. In my whole adult working life I have never worked with such an incompetent, disrespectful and unprofessional business so it's high time someone said enough is enough. I made the decision to stop accepting work from this company a few months back, it was the best decision.
I expect you're wondering what took me so long to make this decision. I'm not a particularly assertive, confident person. I'm a bit of a people pleaser and as I mentioned before confrontation is just not something I feel comfortable with. This made it very hard for me to chase payments, I always felt awkward having to ask for payment. I would get extremely anxious for a few days whilst psyching myself up to send the chasing email. If I wanted to work in the debt recovery industry I would have done! I'm quite possibly the least suited person to it!
Looking back I expect they took advantage of this. I should have stopped accepting commissions years ago but I actually really enjoyed the challenge of designing subjects that were sometimes out of my comfort zone. It kept me focussed and allowed me to explore my creativity so I trusted that the payments would come and I continued accepting the work. The commissioning editor, a freelancer herself, was always very nice to me, I enjoyed working with her.
Perhaps you're thinking that I was stupid and you wouldn't have let it go on so long and that's fine........one thing you have to know about me is that I'm not you.
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Update as of 9th July 2025 - after seeking legal advice I today commenced legal action against Penny Creative Media Ltd to recover what they still owed me. Within hours of them receiving the first formal communication they paid me, why they couldn't have just done that when invoices were due over the last 9 years I will never know! I could say so much more about how they treat designers but for now I am just relieved I've got my money and it's over. I just wish I'd had the confidence in myself and my work to have done something sooner.
Thank you to all my customers and followers near and far for your continued support and special mention to my husband who has lived this with me, helped fight my corner over the years and gave me the confidence to stand up for myself.