Dude, Where’s My Cash?
I’ve been pretty fortunate this year in collecting what’s due me. Usually, I’m paid within a month or two (and yes, that’s late) of invoice. These are regular clients, so it’s a bit more predictable. However, there’s always one. This particular one has a deliquent bill of six months. Honestly, I’d forgotten about it for a month or two, but I sent off three invoices and all were met with stone-cold silence. Yesterday I put together a paper invoice and sent it, along with sending yet one more email, this time mentioning litigation. If I had this client’s phone number, I’d have called months ago. Alas, it was an email-only kind of relationship.

It’s a smaller amount (three numbers before the decimal point), but it’s my smaller amount, and I worked for it. A writer friend and I were discussing it yesterday, and he said the same thing – some writers would be afraid to press for it. Not me – I’ve developed a distaste for ignored bills. I’m not mean, but I’m persistent. It’s treated as a necessary part of the business – it’s not personal.

You ought to be just as persistent in your collections. I wrote something about my magic phrase, which has been a godsend to me. But you should set up some sort of plan for collection. Here’s mine. It’s not difficult, and having a plan will help you be more confident in collection when you come to that point (and we all do) when you have to use your final option.