Image licensed via Adobe Stock
Members of the Creative Boom community explore when it’s okay to accept an advance payment for future work and offer some tips to make it work.
Welcome to the latest edition of Dear Boom, our agony aunt series for creative professionals. This week’s dilemma touches on something many of us have encountered: a client with leftover budget and an invitation to bill for work that hasn’t happened yet.
“A client had $10K left in their marketing budget and asked me to bill them for it before year-end, then carry the work forward as a kind of credit,” our anonymous creative explains. “The problem is, the work may never happen. Or it could take a year to use up. It feels risky, could mess with my accounts and taxes, and might backfire later. I said no, but I’m curious. What would other creatives do in this situation?”
We asked the Creative Boom community for their views, and it’s fair to say that opinion was divided. Some saw it as a vote of confidence and a smart business opportunity. Others warned of tangled finances and scope creep. Yet for most people, the answer isn’t a simple yes or no, but “it depends”. On your contracts, your relationship with the client, and how you structure the arrangement.
We share their hard-won wisdom below, while you can read the full discussion on Instagram and The Studio. (Not joined The Studio yet? Do it now: it’s free!)
Why clients do this
Before diving into whether to accept, it helps to understand why clients make this request. Creative director Alison Chaffey identifies two common scenarios. “Clients have an early-stage project and want to get a big bill in before their year-end, or large organisations have a use-it-or-lose-it mentality. For the latter, we would never just blindly take their money: we’d map out how to use it effectively. But higher-ups generally just need to see the money in the right column in the budget regardless of outcome.”
Adam Duckett, founder of Covers Studio, sees the request positively. “It’s a great sign that the client trusts you as a collaborator. This happens often with clients. It’s essentially a credit note; you can set the terms, such as 12 months to redeem. Put the money in a business savings account, and it can earn some interest.”
When it works: clear agreements and defined projects
The creatives who’ve successfully navigated advance billing all emphasise one thing: crystal-clear terms. As creative director Paul Leon says: “If both you and your client have agreed on a project brief—scope, terms and conditions, back out, resolution and termination clauses and delivery schedule—and everything inside and outside of that is clear, there’s no reason that you cannot ask to be paid in advance.”
Paul highlights two critical terms to include. “The first is that the retainer is non-refundable once paid, whether the work is carried out or not. The second is that it has an expiry: the retainer is valid within a set period, a deadline by which the project has to be started by.”
Video producer and animator Nick Hill has learned the wisdom of this approach through experience. His first advance billing succeeded because “the client knew what they wanted but didn’t have a start date, so the project went fine.” The second time, with a client who didn’t know what they wanted, he relied on his terms and conditions. “I pointed to a clause in our T&Cs that basically says, if you pay us in advance, you have six months to use that time, or lose it, and we can’t refund you if you don’t; we’re not a bank.”
Photo retoucher Sandrine Bascouert recently accepted an advance payment, but only because the groundwork was already laid. “I already had the images and the brief, so I don’t see an issue as long as there’s already a contract signed for a particular project, and a cancellation clause and fee in place. I wouldn’t do it otherwise.”
And here’s another key piece of advice: ring-fence the money. “If you don’t go spending the money before you’ve actually earned it, then this shouldn’t have a massive impact on cash flow,” notes Alison. “My advice would be to tuck that money away in a business savings account until you need it!” Designer Sam Hawkins adds: “I think I’d be wary of taking such a figure without boundaries in place, or without talking to my accountant first!”
When it goes wrong: the risks of vagueness
Not everyone’s experience with advanced billing has been positive. “This has happened many times in my experience working in a small studio,” says senior graphic designer Josie Ingoglia. “I have two older partners who have always accepted the remaining budget, but in the end, it always messes with our taxes and the job generally gets ultra-dragged out to the point that the budget spent hardly covers the work done.
“From this experience, going forward—and now that I am in the position to say no—I would say no,” she concludes. “It’s never ended well for the team in the long run. The client learns that you follow them and not the other way around, and I’ve found this seeps into many other aspects of the client relations.”
Freelance designer Jason Roberts isn’t ruling it out, but remains wary. “If there’s no contract in place with clear deliverables outlined, then I’d say no,” he says. “I’ve been in situations where clients have paid in advance, but without concrete projects lined up, and it’s always ended up a mess. On a couple of occasions, the client has dragged things out and demanded far more work than the payment covered.”
Finding your own answer
What’s striking is how personal this kind of decision ultimately is. Some creatives have had unexpectedly positive experiences—Kyle Eertmoed recalls a client who prepaid $10k, never used it, and told him to keep it. Others, however, find it hasn’t worked for them at all.
Ultimately, you have to go with your gut. As business strategist Skye Antoniou argues: “If it impacts your business in a way that goes against your values, they’re not your client. Every time you say yes to misaligned opportunities, you create less space for aligned clients who respect your value and the investment it takes to work with you.”
That said, the broad consensus from most of our community is this. Billing in advance can absolutely work—but only with watertight agreements, clear expiry dates, and the discipline to ring-fence that money until it’s truly earned.
Without those safeguards, you’re potentially taking on an interest-free loan while exposing yourself to scope creep, accounting headaches, and the awkward position of having been paid for work you might never do. As Paul wisely notes, good clients are usually happy to work within well-set-out project agreements. If they’re not, that might be your answer right there.
