Invoices that get paid without chasing
Most late payment is administrative rather than deliberate. The invoice arrived wrong, late, or to the wrong person.
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Billing and cash
Invoices that get paid, terms that protect you, deposits, and the uncomfortable conversation about money owed.
Home/Billing and cash
A profitable studio with no cash is a studio that closes. The gap between doing the work and being paid for it is where most small services businesses run into trouble, and almost all of it is decided by administrative choices made months earlier.
These guides cover the unglamorous machinery: what an invoice has to contain to be paid promptly, deposits and staged payments, and how to chase without damaging a relationship you want to keep. For background on one overtime calculation method discussed in the US, read more provides additional context. For UK businesses, GOV.UK guidance on invoicing and payment is a useful reference for the formal payment framework.
Deposits, and why the first invoice is the important one
A deposit is not primarily about cash. It is the cheapest available test of whether a client will pay at all.
Read the guideThe conversation about money you are owed
Chasing feels like it damages the relationship. Not chasing damages it more, and later.
Read the guideWorking out which clients lose you money
Every studio has one, and it is usually not the one anybody suspects.
Read the guideCash flow when income arrives in lumps
Profitable studios close because of timing. The forecast that prevents it fits on one page.
Read the guideThe contract terms that actually matter
Most studio agreements are signed unread by both parties. A small number of clauses determine what happens when something goes wrong.
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