Dealing with Late Payments

What's it all about?

Unfortunately - dealing with late payments is not just an administrative issue, for many it can lead to additional stress, anxiety and have an impact on our mental health when self-employed.

75% of the self-employed say late payments have caused them concern at some point - and that's not okay.

We've written this guide to help you feel more confident in knowing your rights, what you can ask for, and what you should expect, but also how to deal with the emotional impact that late payment and money worries can bring.

Based upon conversations with members of the freelance community, specialists from accounting, law and small business support - and rooted in the years of insight from the Leapers community - our guide to Late Payments is full of tangible support and ways to help you tackle the problem head on.

For just £4, or free for Leapers members.

What's in the book?

1. Before we get started... - How much of a problem is late paying invoices for you?
   
2. How much of a problem is late paying invoices for you?
   
3. Introduction
   
4. TL;DR - Don't have time to read the whole ebook? Here's the summary.
   
5. The scale of the problem. - It's not just you. In fact, it is something which affects almost every single freelancer. Let's look at some of the numbers.
   
6. The Impact of Late Payment - But why does it matter if an invoice is late?
   
7. Do you agree? - What's your perspective on the issue of late payments?
   
8. What's your perspective on the issue of late payments?
   
9. Asking for money isn't easy. - But not dealing with money issues makes things harder.
   
   • Talking about money isn't easy! - You're not alone in that.
   • You're a business. - They're a business. This is a business transaction.
   • It's never that simple, but it needs to be.
   • Shifting your perspective. - From personal to professional
10. Your Rights - You deserve respect.
    
    • Your Rights: as a Business
    • Your Rights: as a human - (hint: to be respected and communicated with)
11. No excuses allowed. - Clients shouldn't have excuses, and we shouldn't excuse ourselves.
    
    • Excuses we give ourselves - Reasons we don't go chasing that invoice
    • Excuses the clients give us - Don't laugh - these are all too common.
12. A quick recap... - What have we discovered so far?
    
13. Late payments timeline - What to do when?
    
14. It's not your fault, but do everything you can to avoid it from happening - Key recommendations to avoid late payments.
    
15. Dealing with the impact of late payments.
    
    • Emotional Impact
    • Professional Impact
    • Financial Impact
16. What happens next? - Getting further support and non-payment.
    
17. Here's to the good ones - Let's celebrate the good payers, and that probably includes you.
    
18. The Nuclear Option - (Not recommended, but worth knowing about)
    
19. Thanks, acknowledgments and references