First, watch "Fuck you, Pay me." http://www.vimeo.com/22053820 http://www.vimeo.com/22053820 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ydqjqZ_3oc http://www.youtube.com/w

First, watch "Fuck you, Pay me." http://www.vimeo.com/22053820 http://www.vimeo.com/22053820 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ydqjqZ_3oc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ydqjqZ_3oc Then with your newly minted contract, estimate total billing for the project. So if you are charging 100 USD a hour, and expect it will take 100 hours, you would be billing for 10,000USD. Rather simple so far. Then determine how you would like to be paid. Common models are 50% up front, the rest on delivery; 100% on delivery (usually for F500 firms); or 100% upfront. Billing by the hour, will annoy your clients unless the amounts are small. Some firms also have payment terms which means you may not see any money on a normal invoice for months. Just make sure its clearly outlined in your contract. If you really need to make your invoices look good, here are a number of services. But nothing special is necessary. It should not be email though. Put it in a word or pdf document so they can print it out, put it into their files. And there is no problem in asking questions. Or being a newbie. Just remember, "Fuck you, Pay me"