Get paid on time: invoicing that works
Late payments are rarely malice — they're your client's accounts-payable process optimizing around YOUR silence. This lesson covers the invoice habits that get you paid on schedule, the terms that prevent slow-pay from the start, and the escalation script that recovers money without torching the account.
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Prevention: the invoice itself
- Send it the same day the work ships — end-of-month batching delays your own money by weeks for no reason.
- Due dates, not 'net 30' alone: 'Due June 14' outperforms 'Net 30' because it removes the math (and the drift).
- Make payment one click: ACH/card/payment-link buttons in the invoice. Every additional step is a delay of days.
- Terms on every invoice: due date, late fee (even modest: 1–1.5%/month), and the escalation ladder — stated once, at the start, when goodwill is highest.
For project work: 30–50% up front. It filters out the never-payers before you spend a hour, and a client with money already in the game prioritizes the rest of the invoice. Custom orders and new clients: deposits should be default, not exception.
The escalation ladder (calm, scripted, relentless)
| When | Action | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 (due) | Invoice + automated reminder fires same morning | Neutral — 'reminder, due today' |
| Day 7 | Short email: invoice re-attached, 'any issue with the invoice?' | Warm, assumes good faith |
| Day 14 | Firm email: reference the agreed terms + late fee date | Matter-of-fact, no apology |
| Day 21 | Call. Script: 'I'm calling about invoice 118, due on the 14th — when can we expect it?' Then silence. | Calm, direct, expects an answer |
| Day 30+ | Final notice letter (per your terms): work pauses, collections or small-claims next | Formal, one page, no emotion |
The script matters because late-payment conversations fail in the same three ways: apologizing ('sorry to bother you' — you're not a bother, you're a creditor), threatening from anger, or going silent for weeks and calling it patience. Calm beats all three.
The question that works: 'When can we expect it?' Then stop talking. Silence does the collecting.
The JK23 Ledger Letter, issue 8
Structural fixes for repeat offenders
- Change THEIR behavior by changing YOUR defaults: shorter terms (Net 14), deposits, or milestone billing for the client who pays at day 60.
- Late fees that actually appear on the next invoice — a fee you never charge is a term you never had.
- Fire the chronically abusive payer (90+ days, every time): the discount they extract by holding your money is your margin — at some point they're paying you in stress, not dollars.
Frequently asked questions
Do late fees actually work, or do they just anger people?
Stated in advance and applied consistently, they work — most businesses that actually charge them see them as rarely-collected insurance: the fee changes payment priority without ever being paid. The anger comes from surprise fees, never from terms the client agreed to in writing.
What about factoring or invoice financing?
Real tools, real cost — you're selling your invoice at a discount for speed. For an occasional cash gap on otherwise-good clients they can make sense; as a permanent habit they signal a deeper problem (pricing, terms, or client mix) worth fixing first.
How do I handle the big client who pays slowly but is 40% of revenue?
Extra carefully — that concentration is the actual risk. Short-term: milestone billing, deposits, honest conversation ('your payment cycle is forcing me to carry costs — can we get to Net 15?'). Long-term: build the client base down to a level where no single payer can bend your cash flow.