how I LOST hundreds of thousands of dollars as a freelancer

Your take aways are good, sorry you learned the hard way. Trust no one.

My approach:

Break work into deliverables, each deliverable is 70% up front, 30% after final demo. No code given to them until 100% payment for deliverable.

I don’t even start researching products for sponsored videos until I see that money in my account. If they don’t pay on time, I fire them as a client and find someone more serious.

your audio is shit

Your own Saas is x1000 times better

Sue the company