You should read through the

[Mihnea G]

Hello everyone! I am totally new to this platform and i am quite concern about how will i get paid.. I have a Paypal account which i submitted to my profile and some days ago i finished one task and receive the sum of 5$. But the money appears on the "Pending" tab in "Reports" instead of "Available". What "pending" means? What should i do to get the money on my Paypal account? Help me please! Thank you in advance! Farewell!

[Jenny Belle T]

What is the work week and pay schedule? During the "security period", your money is still "pending".

[Mihnea G]

By the way, my contract is fixed price, not hourly.

[Gillian Michele N]

You should read through the Help section. https://support.odesk.com/entries/23153358-How-do-I-access-my-earnings- The payment has to go through a security period before you can access the funds. It's just the time you have to wait.

[Phyllis Filomena K]

So, let me ask you. If you do a fixed rate like I do and you have say 5 clients but the soonest you are allowed to withdraw your money is once per week AND on top of that have to wait 6 days, how do you budget your life? If I have a few clients and each one finishes on sifferent days that's a lot of waiting. What do you suggest beause on elance i was paid immediatly

Thanks

Phyllis

[Jennifer M]

---

@Phyllis Filomena K wrote:

So, let me ask you. If you do a fixed rate like I do and you have say 5 clients but the soonest you are allowed to withdraw your money is once per week AND on top of that have to wait 6 days, how do you budget your life? If I have a few clients and each one finishes on sifferent days that's a lot of waiting. What do you suggest beause on elance i was paid immediatly

Thanks

Phyllis

---

You just have to wait 6 days after milestone release and then you can withdraw funds. You'll see a Get Paid button after 6 days. I think it's only a day after that to see funds in your bank. 

[Fergus M]

Look at it as an exciting new feature. It's exactly the same as the way Amazon hold your money for six days before sending your new eBook to your Kindle.

[Tony H]

---

@Phyllis Filomena K wrote:

So, let me ask you. If you do a fixed rate like I do and you have say 5 clients but the soonest you are allowed to withdraw your money is once per week AND on top of that have to wait 6 days, how do you budget your life? If I have a few clients and each one finishes on sifferent days that's a lot of waiting. What do you suggest beause on elance i was paid immediatly

Thanks

Phyllis

---

 I try to budget my freelance income at least 2 months in advance, so if there are any unexpected delays there is no reason to panic. If a project takes an extra week or two... who cares. Similar to a 'normal' job, you get paid usually after at least 5 days after the cut-off date. So you work this week, but may get paid next week, or maybe even a few more days. Just treat it like you would a regular job. Try to budget in advance and avoid living week to week.

Freelancing is a business, and like any other business you need to have a slush fund to get you through the slow times and the unexpected. Hope that helps a lil.

If you are having trouble 'catching up' on your savings (or better said as your business operating account), it is a sign that either you chose to transition from your regular job to freelancing too early. You need to make sure you are making more than you need so delays like this don't have such an impact on your stress levels.

If you're bent on working solely as a freelancer, then ya just gota learn to live a minimalist lifestyle until your freelance career is more profitable. That's the route I took, and still manage to find ways to live. For my own situation, I find living in my home town too expensive as a freelancer finding work on platforms like this. It just doesn't work well enough to get ahead. I'll be traveling to Thailand for a while and then more of South East Asia this year. You can get more life for your money in other countries... if that's something that interests you. You can actually live pretty well and experience the world on $1000/m. That's easy enough to earn as a freelancer, so you wind up earning enough to get ahead and build up your slush fund.

Sorry, I went off and added more to a simple question.. but it all kinda ties in your budget. It begins with creating a living situation that's easier to maintain. If you don't need to spend, you won't need to worry about a week or two delay in getting paid.

If travel isn't for you, then you either need to increase the amount and quality of work you do as a freelancer, or use it as a second income and keep your day job. These platforms are better suited for people who can live with less and earn a higher (USD) valued currency.

So short answer is - Don't treat it like a job. Treat it like a business.

[Setu M]

I learned a lot from that Tony.

Thanks.

[Mihnea G]

I do not think i have security period.