• Essentially, how do you go about getting paid? Right now there's a lot of companies out there that have just straight up said, "We are not paying anyone." Equinox's CFO sent a letter out recently that just said, "Until further notice, Equinox isn't paying anyone." They're not paying rent. They're not paying. If they owe you money in any capacity, you're not getting it right now. They are not alone in that message and I think that as an influencer you have to expect that some companies won't pay potentially ever or those payments would be really delayed.

    Just because a company is suffering and just because they can't pay you right now or because they're not paying you right now, does not in any way mean you shouldn't be following up with them. It is my experience that the more you ask, the sooner you get paid. The whole squeaky wheel gets the grease cliche is true. That most brands will be paying some people and if you are persistent enough then you can be the person that they pay. If you aren't giving them a hard time, if you're not following up a lot they're not going to jump to pay you.
    Now where this gets complex is let's say you have a great relationship with the person who works in digital or PR at a brand and they haven't paid you. Now you don't want to badger that person that you have a good relationship with, the person you go out to drinks with a few times a year and you've come to like. You don't want to badger them for a payment necessarily. You need to try and get an introduction to the accounting department, to the people who are going to pay them.

    You can just reach out to your contacts and say, "Hey, I'm having some trouble getting payment. I know that you don't really have any control over this. Could you just introduce me to the accounting department or to the person you work with there? I just want to talk to them directly and make sure I have everything I need to get paid." They should definitely introduce you. If they don't, you can always try accounting at whatever their URL or email signature is. If that doesn't work, call the corporate number. I had a brand that owed me over $10,000 once and I couldn't get paid and eventually I just called corporate and they said could you connect me to accounting? I finally found a person and I got paid in the next week or so.

    There are ways to get around it and if you can get that communication away from the person you work with and move it to accounting so that you don't have to muddy the relationship with that person you work with but end of the day you need to get paid. It is also their responsibility to make sure that happens. If there's no way to get connected to accounting, I would continue to pressure that person. If you don't bother brands that aren't paying you often, you're you'll probably never get it. There is no too much. You stop emailing them when they pay you. It's a pretty simple transaction there.
    Episode #196
    - The Art of the Negroni