What 10% actually pays

Ten per cent of a one-off job is a nice afternoon. Ten per cent of a subscription is an income. Same rate, completely different outcome — and most people only ever look at the first one.

Here is a real example, with the studio’s published figures.

A business you introduced needs a visual identity and someone to run its social media. It signs the identity at 4,000 CHF and the Starter subscription at 700 CHF a month.

You earn 400 CHF when it pays for the identity. Then 70 CHF every month, for as long as the subscription runs. Over three years that is 2,920 CHF — from one introduction.

That leaves the question of when the money actually lands. Four rules decide whether you get paid, and how much. None of them is hidden — they are all in the terms. But none of them is intuitive either, and that is where people get it wrong.

It is paid when the studio is paid, not when the client signs

A signed quote pays you nothing. An unpaid, cancelled or refunded invoice earns nothing either — and a commission already paid on an invoice later refunded is deducted from your next balance.

So do not count a deal the day it is signed. Count it the day it clears.

It follows the service, not the client

This one surprises everyone. The commission attaches to the service the business signs as a result of your introduction, and to that alone. If the same business later buys something else from the studio without you, that earns you nothing.

It is not a trap — it is written in the terms, and there is a way through it: report that new need in turn. A new admissible report opens a new commission.

It is on the amount before tax, without rebilled costs

Ten per cent of the invoiced amount excluding VAT. Costs rebilled to the client at cost — travel, licences, media buys, rented equipment — are outside the basis. They are not studio income, so they are not commission either.

It stops when the client stops

For as long as the contract runs, with no time limit. It follows plan changes, on the new amount. It ends the day the client stops paying.

One practical detail people forget

Payment goes to your bank account once your balance reaches 100 CHF. Below that, it carries over to the next month rather than being lost.

With a 70 CHF monthly commission, that means a payout roughly every two months at the start, then every month once a second client is running. It is worth knowing so you are not waiting for a transfer that was never going to come yet.

The honest conclusion

One introduction that turns into a subscription is worth more than five one-off jobs — and it costs you exactly the same effort: one conversation.

So when you introduce someone, the question is not “do they need a website?” It is “will they need someone every month?” That is where the money is.