I get why the late fee works for you, but in my experience it scares off decent clients too. I do mostly small residential stuff and a 2 percent monthly fee can feel like a lot to a homeowner who is just waiting on a paycheck, so they walk before we even start. What I ask for instead is a clear kill fee and a set start date, so if they cancel last minute I still get paid for the slot I held. Your mileage may vary, but that one has saved me more grief than chasing interest ever did.

Silent phone in a drawer did it for me.

Grabbed one of those little silicone scrub brushes from the dollar store last month and it outperformed the $40 brush my old shop used to push. The trick is the cheap ones let you really get in there without worrying about wrecking the motor, so you end up using them more often and that beats any fancy gadget sitting in a drawer. Keeping it simple and consistent does way more for skin than dropping big money on tools.