When Mr. Escalona and I were relative newlyweds, we embarked on a road trip. At a rest stop one afternoon, I emerged from the bathroom to find the gregarious, friendly and helpful Mr. Escalona engaged in conversation with a middle-aged female stranger.

“I need a ride a couple miles down the road, but your husband said I had to ask you,” the stranger said.

A glance at Mr. Escalona gave me no clues as to what he wanted me to do. The lady seemed nice, they had been in what sounded like a friendly conversation in Spanish (considering that most Spanish sounds like yelling to me, this seemed positive), and both were looking at me expectantly, so I said, “Sure.”

If you don't implement POLICIES, she could kill you

After we let the stranger out – she didn’t kill us, as us for money, or come out with any freaky indecent proposals – my husband said, “Why did you do that? She could have killed us!”

“I thought you wanted me to!” I said, wounded.

Oops! Our lack of communication had led us to engage in a dangerous behavior neither of us really wanted to perform.

Boy, you know what would have prevented that situation? If we’d agreed beforehand on a “No Hitchhikers” policy.

Of course, you can’t be ready for everything that comes your way in life. How on earth was I to know that I would need a “No Hitchhikers” policy when navigating South Florida? But luckily, with your business, you have a little more warning when it comes to situations that may arise. And the best way to be prepared for those crazy situations is to have a firm policy in place. That way, if a client asks you “Hey, do you write copy and pick up my laundry?” you are ready to answer with a firm, “Nope, copywriting only.”

Of course, not all situations you’ll run into in your business are as easy as that one. None of us pick up laundry, right? Right? Most situations that warrant a policy are sticky. Here are some examples:

1.) Late Payments – If you do not have a policy in place regarding collecting late payments, a late or non-payment situation can go downhill really fast. Maybe the client is stringing you along, promising a check that’s never truly in the mail. Or perhaps they are arguing with you about the terms of your contract—long after the work was completed and delivered. This is where it’s important to have a plan in place for dealing with late payers, even if you’ve never experienced this particular phenomenon. (Lucky you.) A sample policy might include tacking on a late fee to payments late over 30 days, calling the client bi-weekly for the next two weeks after that, and then taking the client to small claims court if they still do not pay after 60 days. Any time you don’t get paid is a stressful time. Having a policy in place can actually prevent you from going crazy as all those bill deadlines pass and you still don’t see a paycheck in your account.

2.) Setting Fees – You’re talking to a potential client. Discussions are going well. You are both excited about the project and ready to get started. Then the client drops the bombshell that he can only pay half of your going rate. Because you are a savvy freelancer, you have already set your going rate based on what it takes to live, save for rainy days, save for retirement, and maintain the lifestyle to which you are accustomed. If you take this project, no matter how exciting it sounds, you are going to have to short something else in your life. This is where it’s vital to have a firm fee policy. No matter how exciting the project sounds, it’s not as exciting as not having to dine on cat food when you enter your dotage.

3.) Taking On Work – Despite my firm anti-cheating stance, I have been contacted directly at least three times about writing term papers for college students. A No-Helping-Your-Sorry-Ass-Cheat Policy was one of the first policies I implemented in my business, but I can see where other people might fall down that slippery slope of fast, easy money for term papers without thinking through the consequences of their actions. The same goes for other jobs, such as using black hat SEO tactics or writing for someone you consider a merchant of death. If you have a firm policy in place about not taking on certain types of work, it will be easier for you to turn down the devil when he comes calling with piles of cash.

4.) Emergencies – Obviously, nobody plans for an emergency, but you can implement an Emergency Policy for when one does occur. After all, the last thing you want to be wondering while watching your house burn down is “What am I going to do about my clients?” Implement an emergency policy and be ready with a form email, a list of contacts to notify, and perhaps even another freelancer to back you up while you recover.

By no means are these the only freelance writing situations that require a policy, but they are a start. If my husband and simply said to one another “No hitchhikers, honey” then we wouldn’t have had to try and read one another’s minds when it came to the friendly hitchhiker in Florida. And if you cement your policies firmly in your mind, you won’t have to hesitate when someone asks you to forgive his late fee, pick up his laundry, or write a white paper while your house burns down.