I actually think clients who stop paying you are doing you a favour…
Hear me out here,
If a client isn’t going to pay you on time, or has made the conscious decision to stop paying you at all, then obviously they’re someone that you need to let go.
But if you’re like me and you want to give people the benefit of the doubt, you maybe won’t just straight to cancelling contracts and pausing work the second their invoice goes overdue, you’ll believe that they’ll get caught up, obviously they’re just a bit busy at the moment.
I should know after in 8 years in business that 9 times out of 10, they won’t get caught up and they are actively ignoring you – but during the time it takes me to come to terms with that, I’m learning to live without their income.
When we’re told to let go of clients who don’t serve us, it sounds so easy in theory but as a small business owner who relies on every client to pay her bills – the thought of purposely saying goodbye to one feels terrifying.
However those few weeks or months where I have no choice but to adjust to their lack of payment, by the time I’m ready to say “off you pop, you’ve taken the mick for too long” then it doesn’t feel like such a financial hit.
Obviously I’d really rather not go through the process of checking my bank, checking that against my invoices, emailing them for an update, whatsapping to see if they got my email… but that’s the price I pay for being a people pleaser.
Plus, I’ve always recovered the money eventually either through them or the Small Claims Court, because one lesson I learned very on and never forgot was to have a great contract in place to cover such things.