I have a sudden urge to rant, so bear with me.

For the most parts, I've been very fortunate to have great clients. I often hear about 'clients from hell', but I haven't had any. Most of my clients have been very pleasant to work with, and only one has ever disappeared without paying. All but one paid my invoices... eventually.

Some clients however, don't see an urgency to pay, sometimes making me wait months, all the while telling me "the cheque's in the mail".

For me, collecting payment is by far the most difficult part of owning my own business. I really hate asking people for money and would love to one day be able to delegate that to someone else. I'd also love for one day to have enough cash in reserve that a few late payments won't hurt that much. But I'm not there yet, and at the moment, being paid late really does hurt.

I have a family you see. I have bills to pay just like anyone else. Not to put a guilt trip on any of my clients, but I often wonder if they consider the fact that witholding money from me really does have a direct effect on my family. I know the job of providing for my family falls on me, not them, but it's a fact that they have a part to play in it. Perhaps some of them have kids of their own and can relate.

My only answer to the problem of late payments have been to take on a lot of extra work in the hopes that payments schedules will overlap enough that in any given fortnight someone will pay enough for me to cover my expenses. This 'solution' brings problems of it's own. There's only so much work I can take on. I've blogged before about excessive workload and made lightening my load part of my resolutions.

One way I've been lightening my workload while still ramping up the sales have been to hire help. I'm very pleased with the few designers and developers who have been helping me of late. They've been exceptional at all tasks I've put before them. But even they are affected by the snowball effect of clients not paying. So much so that I feel like a hypocrite writing this post as I've made a few of my guys wait at times. The only thing I can say in my own defence is if it all possible I make sure to pay my contractors quicker than our clients pay me, often leaving me without. As much as I hate being owed money, I hate owing money more.

To end on a positive note, I want to mention the effect of paying on time. I have a few clients who pay almost instantly. I send them an invoice and find a cheque in my mailbox a couple days later. I can't help but give those clients preferred service. When they ask me to work on their sites, I put aside everything else I'm doing and get their stuff done asap, because it means I'll get paid asap. And we all love getting paid.

I want to reiterate, that for the most part I've had great clients. I'm not ranting about a majority here, just a few stragglers.