This guide explains the difference between the freelancer creating milestones and the customer creating milestones.
Video Guide
Step by Step Guide
For talent marketplaces powered by our white label software solution it is possible for either the freelancers or the customers to shoulder the organisational responsibility of creating the milestones with the relevant wages and descriptions. By default freelancers create the milestones, however customers can create them if the following feature is enabled. The three sub-options are discussed further below.
Customer Creates the Milestones
In this case when a freelancer finds a job that interests them, they can send in a proposal.
The customer will likely receive several proposals from different freelancers, which are listed under ‘Proposals’ in the ‘Jobs’ menu item.
Once they view the proposal, they can accept the contract to make it live, or they can choose to add milestones (Tasks) so that there is greater clarity of what the job entails. Note that the milestones can be created, or deleted both before the contract is live, and after it becomes live (But not after they have been paid for). When the customer has created a task, they must send it to the freelancer to review.
The freelancer will receive an email notifying them that there is a new task to review and if the freelancer is happy to do the work they can approve it. Otherwise they can scroll down and send a message to the customer to arrange for the task to be amended. If the freelancer does not approve the task then the customer cannot pay the freelancer, and they do not have to do the work.
The customer will also receive an email notification when the task is approved. At any point in this process the customer can choose to accept the contract and make it live. They can also edit the proposal to add more tasks/milestones each of which must be approved separately.
Once the contract is live it is moved from ‘Proposals’ to ‘Current Jobs’ under the ‘JOBS’ menu items. At this point the customer can pay for the milestone. Customers can only pay for milestones that have been approved by the freelancer.
At this point the freelancer receives an email notification and they can commence work. When they have completed the task at hand they can go to their active jobs and mark it as completed.
The customer at this point can review all the work the freelancer has done, and if they are satisfied with the work the freelancer has done they can approve the task as completed. If they are not they can dispute the claim- there is a guide on disputes in our documentation.
At this point the freelancer is paid for the work they have done.
Sub-option 1: Skip FL approve milestone step: go straight from CL creates milestone, to CL pays milestone
The first sub-feature is to ‘Skip FL approve milestone step: go straight from CL creates milestone, to CL pays milestone’. This feature allows the customer to take the contract live and immediately pay for it (at this point the funds are be collected from their card and held in Stripe’s custom connect account, earmarked for the freelancer), without needing the freelancer’s approval.
Moreover, the system does not require the freelancer to mark their work as complete: once the customer has paid, they can immediately approve the work for the funds to be released into the freelancer’s bank account.
Sub-option 2: Allow edit milestones anytime BEFORE milestone is paid/started
This sub-feature will be renamed to properly reflect its functionality, which is for customers to be able to delete (not edit) milestones before they have been paid.
Sub-option 3: Take CL payment when FL approves milestone
The third sub-feature is to ‘Take CL payment when FL approves milestone’. This feature collects payment from the customer when the freelancer clicks ‘approve’ instead of when the customer clicks ‘pay’. Note that the contract must be live for payment to be made- it cannot be taken while in the proposal stage.
Freelancer Creates the Milestones
In this process the steps are very similar to above. Customers, however, do not have the option to create milestones (the ‘Add Task’ button does not exist).
The freelancer in their ‘current jobs’ can scroll down and add a milestone.
The customer receives an email notifying them that a milestone has been created, and the customer can pay for it- the money is held in escrow and the freelancer can begin working.
When the milestone is completed, the freelancer selects ‘Milestone Completed’, and if the customer is satisfied with the work the freelancer has done they approve its completion for the funds to be moved to the freelancer’s account. The final steps of the milestone process are identical to above.