- Location
- healdsburg, CA
tips \'n tricks for getting paid faster
I started working for myself about 17 years ago. I started from scratch and worked from job to job, check to check.
Even stuffing brush into a variety of vehicles such as a volvo station wagon, honda accord, real old dodge van (ever cross cut brush in an enclosed van? blech!)
Getting paid right away was very very important as I needed money to buy more saw gas, food, pay my rent, fix equipment, fix the vehicle (again) etc, etc.
When a homeowner would say to me, "please send us a bill", it often meant that I would send a bill, and it would take a week or more to have that long espected check in the mail. Some folks like to 'age' their bills. and when the invoice is sitting on their desk, they would put is below the priority of other bills, so it would sit there for a long time.
Have you ever had a client say to you just when you are getting close to finishing, "I'll be back I have to run on an errand". They dont come back that afternoon...
So the first thing I would do is say, " Wait just a second, I have your invoice right here". "Oh, I am running out the door, I'll mail the check to you". I would say, "thats fine, here is a self addressed stamped envelope"!
Another trick is to say, "Please dont mail the check, I will be working around the corner tomorrow so please just pop it under the door matt and I will pick it up". Never mind that tomorrow I would be on the other side of town
Another trick, when I just had to bill them is to ask for their fax number/email address (I now have that space for including that on my proposal forms). Then I would fire off the invoice as fast as possible after completing the job.
In the case of having to mail a bill, I started to include the return stamped self addressed envelope with the bill. It is amazing that the simple job of assembling an envelope and pasting a stamp can sometimes take two or three days- meanwhile I would go hungry!
Have you ever had a client say "oh yes, I meant to get that in the mail but I need to go buy stamps"--a week later.
I never liked to ask them to leave a check if I was not yet done with the job.
Final trick is to get a P.O. Box for your business. This takes a whole day off of the mail delivery time.
I used to be shy about billing, but the fact is, when you do what you say you are going to do, and do a good job, their is nothing to be shy about.
I strongly feel that our trade is an honorable one, and I respect myself for being a professional. Billing is just another detail of that.
People are different from place to place I think. When I started, I lived in an area that seemed to be filled with deadbeats. Rich deadbeats, but deadbeats nevertheless.
In the area I am in now it seems like people pay more timely. Or I am more grumpy
Frans
I started working for myself about 17 years ago. I started from scratch and worked from job to job, check to check.
Even stuffing brush into a variety of vehicles such as a volvo station wagon, honda accord, real old dodge van (ever cross cut brush in an enclosed van? blech!)
Getting paid right away was very very important as I needed money to buy more saw gas, food, pay my rent, fix equipment, fix the vehicle (again) etc, etc.
When a homeowner would say to me, "please send us a bill", it often meant that I would send a bill, and it would take a week or more to have that long espected check in the mail. Some folks like to 'age' their bills. and when the invoice is sitting on their desk, they would put is below the priority of other bills, so it would sit there for a long time.
Have you ever had a client say to you just when you are getting close to finishing, "I'll be back I have to run on an errand". They dont come back that afternoon...
So the first thing I would do is say, " Wait just a second, I have your invoice right here". "Oh, I am running out the door, I'll mail the check to you". I would say, "thats fine, here is a self addressed stamped envelope"!
Another trick is to say, "Please dont mail the check, I will be working around the corner tomorrow so please just pop it under the door matt and I will pick it up". Never mind that tomorrow I would be on the other side of town
Another trick, when I just had to bill them is to ask for their fax number/email address (I now have that space for including that on my proposal forms). Then I would fire off the invoice as fast as possible after completing the job.
In the case of having to mail a bill, I started to include the return stamped self addressed envelope with the bill. It is amazing that the simple job of assembling an envelope and pasting a stamp can sometimes take two or three days- meanwhile I would go hungry!
Have you ever had a client say "oh yes, I meant to get that in the mail but I need to go buy stamps"--a week later.
I never liked to ask them to leave a check if I was not yet done with the job.
Final trick is to get a P.O. Box for your business. This takes a whole day off of the mail delivery time.
I used to be shy about billing, but the fact is, when you do what you say you are going to do, and do a good job, their is nothing to be shy about.
I strongly feel that our trade is an honorable one, and I respect myself for being a professional. Billing is just another detail of that.
People are different from place to place I think. When I started, I lived in an area that seemed to be filled with deadbeats. Rich deadbeats, but deadbeats nevertheless.
In the area I am in now it seems like people pay more timely. Or I am more grumpy
Frans
