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The deposit trick I stole from a roofer in Columbus
For years I'd finish a project and just send one big bill, then wait and stress when 45 days passed with nothing. Then I subbed for a roofer named Mike who demanded 30% upfront and progress payments tied to milestones, no exceptions. I started mirroring that with my design work last March, and now I collect half before I even open the software. Has anyone else found that breaking the invoice into three smaller asks makes the slow payers move faster, or do some people still just wait the full 90 days?
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alex82017d ago
And that milestone thing is the real magic, not just the deposit. Like, getting half upfront is great for cash flow, but splitting the rest into two smaller asks means you're checking in with them at a point where they still owe you something. It changes the whole vibe from "please pay for finished work" to "hey, we're in the middle of this together, here's where we're at." I found that the slow payers who'd drag past 90 days started paying the middle chunk right on time because they didn't want to stall the project and lose the progress they already paid for. The final payment still gets some lag, but it's way less scary when you're only waiting on 25% instead of the whole thing. It's like you're training them to pay in rhythm instead of letting them treat your invoice like a suggestion.
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