One of the most frustrating aspects of dealing with late payments can be the questioning it prompts: Is this the right way of working for me?
Many of our community are dealing with late payments so frequently that it is a common cause of questioning whether self-employment is a realistic way to continue your career.
Being aware of the realistic challenges of self-employment is important, and being honest with yourself about whether this way of working is right for you is important - but ask these questions of yourself in the overall context of your business, not based upon one or two bad experiences.
Not only does a late payment put a strain on your cashflow, but it also puts a strain the professional relationships you've built with that client - the weeks of investing your time in working hard for the customer, getting to understand their business, and then at the end, it goes sour, and you're having to be 'that difficult person' who is asking to be paid on time.
Often times, it can damage the relationship with someone you have a good working relationship with, because their finance team or payments department isn't doing a good job - which is unfair on both you and your relationships.
Be open with your direct client about the challenges you're facing, and work together to resolve the issue - as it is your collective interest to solve.
IPSE research suggests that freelancers spend up to 20 days a year chasing invoices. An average working year is only 220 days - so 10% of your time is spent doing something you'd otherwise be able to spend on more valuable tasks, like actual work, or even taking rest.
This has a knock-on effect to the rest of your work, compressing your schedule, adding workload and generally means you're losing even more money.
Accept that administrative tasks are a proportion of your workload, and factor this into your pricing.
