This is basically a rite of passage for all freelancers/lawyers/service workers unfortunately. My rule of thumb: If someone doesn't want to give you at least 20

This is basically a rite of passage for all freelancers/lawyers/service workers unfortunately. My rule of thumb: If someone doesn't want to give you at least 20% upfront for a project, you don't want to work with them. Always give yourself checkpoints in the project for partial payments instead of a lump sum at the end.