Comments on: Lots of Work, Little Cash

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:34:00 +0000

Feel free to steal it, Sal! If it works, go for it. And for me, it’s worked beautifully.

By: Sal

Sal — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:21:00 +0000

@Lori: That is a great idea. I might have to steal it for future endeavours. And apparently it has great results too.

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:41:00 +0000

It’s not as bad as it sounds, Melissa. All but one are current. The other one is being located. They’ve paid on time many times in the past, so it’s probably a matter of finding it and paying it.

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:40:00 +0000

Sal, I give them three months. Each month it’s late, there’s a 25% late fee. After 90 days, the invoice is sent with two late fees (compounded), and now there’s a note on the invoice: “Please pay within 10 days to avoid litigation.” The mention of pending litigation also goes into a note to the client, such as: “Note the attached invoice, which is now 90 days overdue. Please be sure to send payment within 10 days so we can avoid unnecessary litigation.”

I’ve never been stiffed.

By: Irreverent Freelancer

Irreverent Freelancer — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:40:00 +0000

Oh, and I forgot to mention that if I don’t have almost a whole week of work lined up for the following week each Friday, I feel really uncomfortable.

By: Melissa Donovan

Melissa Donovan — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:33:00 +0000

$7k in unpaid invoices? Ouch! I haven’t had a client skimp out on me yet so I should count myself as lucky. Yes, it would be nice to have work for the whole month laid out. I remember a few months back, I was operating on a day-to-day basis. Now I’m usually booked out for a week, so maybe someday I’ll be able to plan a whole month in advance.

By: Sal

Sal — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:24:00 +0000

Lori, I am just wondering at what point the “can you help me locate my payment” turns into “you better find that payment before…(insert some bad penalty here) happens”

By: Irreverent Freelancer

Irreverent Freelancer — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:59:00 +0000

I’m pretty fortunate right now in that none of my clients is much past 30 days. However, I do have some duty-juggling issues, such as putting off invoicing and marketing when I’m too busy. I’ve found that when you send invoices immediately after completing a project, they’re typically paid quickly. When you wait, you also end up waiting. And as for the marketing, well, I still find that I’m either swamped or scrambling (fortunately more frequently the latter), so I obviously haven’t figured that whole thing out yet.

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:55:00 +0000

I definitely have about $2500 in payments I’m waiting for and am about to finish a $4600 project..so I’m in the same boat as you Lori….

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:26:00 +0000

I’ve never done that, Sue. Honestly, I’ve never had enough to set aside. Now that my money pit has taken her game to college (snark), I’ve been able to save more cash. It’s amazing how much of your cash a teenager can waste. ;))