Look at Erika getting all Norma Rae on us...you go girl. On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 8:29 PM, Erika L. Walker <[email protected]>wrote:
> > Cam - cool. Just making sure ;) > > And another few thoughts. > > I don't know about the rest of you that run your own small business (not > those that do it on the side, I mean those that work 100% for yourself) ... > but I know times are hard right now for a lot of people. And I can tell you > this: I'd much rather work for clients that pay on time than ones that > don't > no matter how much "good will" you are willing to spread. > > I do my fair share of work for "free", and those people know that as far as > the totem pole goes, they aren't at the top. They understand that bills > need > to be paid, food has to be be bought and utilities kept turned on, savings > accounts funded. So when they have something needing to be done, it might > take a little while, and they understand... so that's all good. > > I am lucky that 90% of my client base pays their bills on time or at least > within 60 days. I haven't had to use any strong arm tactics, ever. But I > know if I *have to* I can and will. > > I understand you can be lenient, and you can be compassionate and you can > work with some people. If you have a long history with them, and your gut > says you aren't going to get screwed in the long run, then by all means, > pour on the understanding and the honey. > > Just REMEMBER! All the time you spend working with that client counts. Keep > track of it. At the end of a few months - add it up. Where's your hourly > rate at? How much money could you of made if you had spent that time on a > paying project? Will you recoup all that time? When do you call it quits? > Did you turn away a paying client because you had a week long commitment to > work with the client that can't pay right now? When do you cut your losses? > > Look. Ultimately, unless you are a trust fund baby or have millions in the > bank and don't have to worry about saving for retirement, we're here to run > a business and make money. You cannot make money by being soft in > collections. Bottom line. > > IRS doesnt care about your non-paying customers. They aren't going to pour > on any honey. A business is a business and still needs to be treated as > such. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:288181 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
