Dealing with Slow/No Paying Customers or Clients

This morning I received a wake up call. No, I didn't have a spiritual awakening. The wake up call was an actual call around 8:30 this morning. A member of the accounts payable department of a publication that owes me money called to tell me that they were behind in making payments to writers. This is nothing new. Writers are often the last to get paid and many times we have to make daily calls to get the ball moving. This young lady went on to tell me that she was really sorry but money was simply "coming in slowly" and they were paying the older invoices later (my articles were published in January and February) but rest assured "you will get paid."

Although I am sympathetic to cash flow issues, I am also trying to run a business and as such I NEED TO GET PAID. Mind you this is not some fly- by- night publisher. We're talking a major publisher with over a dozen magazines. And although I want to continue my relationship with the company I have to wonder if it will be worth it to continue writing for them and have to wait months before I get paid. I already have several pieces being held by different editors for consideration but now I wonder if I get the go ahead will I actually go ahead.

At some point you will probably have a client or customer who simply won't or can't pay you, or those who take forever to pay. You will then have to decide if you want to continue working with them. What's hard is when you want to keep the relationship going. In my case, I do but again, I NEED TO GET PAID. So I have to a decision to make.

I wrote killer queries to land the assignments. I researched my little fingers off and produced two quality articles. They were accepted within any need to edit. Both are published and being enjoyed by millions (okay, thousands?) of readers. Now, I want to get paid. This is not a rant it's about decision making. When we are forced to make a decision like the one I have to make we can't be whishy washy. You have to ask yourself whether you're in business to make a profit. If you are then you have to cut lose those who don't pay you. No hard feelings. We're talking strictly business. So as much as I would love to continue my relationship with this publisher if I am not paid for the articles by the end of the month, I will not accept any additional contracts with them. Payment was supposed to be made at the time of publication. We were supposed to get our checks at the same time we received our copies. Our copies arrived fine sans payment.

Running a business requires that you sometimes have to make tough decisions. But in the end when it comes to slow payments you have to decide to cut those customers and clients loose who are dragging you down. After all, I can't call my electric company and tell them that I regret being able to pay my bills because my invoices are not being paid.