I have a couple. Both were from before I stepped into web development, and was a graphic designer.<p>The first has to do with Fiverr -- most freelancers are aware of the waste of time this platform is now. It was new when I started freelancing.<p>I landed a client, and had done a few small things for her over the period of a couple months. She always paid, so there was some trust in the relationship.<p>She was spinning up a new business and needed a logo for it. Being new, needing to build my portfolio and referrals, I spent hours sketching concepts, getting feedback, and finally rendering the logo. I provided the vector files to her for review, and poof. Ghosted.<p>Sure, it was $5, but it was the ego hit. How could a small business owner turn around and screw another fledgling entrepreneur like that?<p>Lesson learned, no one ever receives final deliverables until payment is received.<p>The second was a bit more nefarious. I had done some custom digital frames for a local photographer. The contract was for a decent amount of money, and like before, I spent significant time on completing the work. After providing watermarked versions for review, the client snail mailed a check. Upon receipt, I assumed sure, it'll go through so I emailed the final deliverables. A few days later, I went to cash the check and it had been cancelled.<p>Luckily, that second one led to me leaning on a contract I'd put together -- I sent the client multiple invoices, and eventually sent him a final notice stating going forward, every day of late payment would accrue 15% interest on top of the final balance. 30 days of this late fee would nearly double the original balance.<p>I received a nastily worded letter, and full payment at the end of it, but again, learned another valuable lesson.<p>Sadly, both these experiences pushed me out of freelancing. Too much stress, there's never any down time, and frankly, clients can be a PITA.