How do I pay my bills for a website?

What should I do if boss won't pay me until we get clients?

• I'm working for this new small business (just the two of us) as a content developer and PR specialist. He decided that he only wants to pay me commission for the content development. And he hasn't decided if he's even going to pay me at all to handle the public relations. He also wants me to handle the marketing, sales, and customer service but I have no experience in those. I keep telling him that he needs to pay me a regular salary even if it is minimum wage so i can pay my bills and college expenses. But he keeps talking about his finances and how he has to pay his bills and how he can't do everything (like getting clients) by himself. I asked him to hire more people, but he doesn't want to because he doesn't want to spend his money and wants to wait until we get clients first. BUT WE HAVE NO CLIENTS! And he still wants me to work before we even get clients. I've been working for him now for a month as the PR specialist, and training in marketing and sales (not learning much and spending my own money on some of the training). So he mostly wants me to get him clients (something I have no experience in), and continue to be the PR specialist, handle the clients' needs, sales, contracts, blog, maintain his website, and train all without being paid for over a month. Now that a month has past, he still can't pay me. What should I do?

• Answer:

  You need to quit doing anything for him. Don't go in to work, don't work for him, just tell him that you have worked X number of hours and you need to get paid for those hours. He can't unilaterally decide that he's going to pay you on commission, you have to agree to it. If the two of you didn't make an agreement before you started working, then the assumption is that you will be paid either the state or federal minimum wage, whichever is higher. Start looking for another job, but don't spend one minute more on this job. He can claim that he doesn't have the money to pay you, and that might very well be true. However, he is legally obligated to pay you, somehow. Sometimes new startup businesses will pay in shares of the business...that is, if this guy has said that you will share in any future profits, then that might be an acceptable payment. But YOU have to agree to this, he doesn't get to decide that this is how he'll pay you, or that he'll pay you only on commission. Contact your state's bureau of Hours and Wages.