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having gone through small claims court with my clients before, I wish there was a way or a practice of pre-filing with every invoice. its really shitty to have

having gone through small claims court with my clients before, I wish there was a way or a practice of pre-filing with every invoice. its really shitty to have to wait for an invoice to go unpaid, for a very long time, and then file with the court, and then have your court date pushed out a couple times, and then win the case, and then go to the sheriff to try to collect I would definitely like to remove a few months from that process. I get the sentiment, but its a UX issue that can be improved, not really the parties involved.

yowlingcat 3y ago
There's an two potential avenues to fix this, one logistical and one relationship based. The logistical solution is to set up (depending on your services and client appetite) automatic payment through stripe + debit upon invoice at some T settlement period after invoicing, and offer a discount on services to compensate for the improved cashflow. This makes the "easy way" the way that is also best for you (and the client) and you may find that making the path of least resistance one which also results in you getting paid by default to be one that clears out this issue systematically for you with well behaved clients. Of course, that is the caveat -- some clients are pathologically not "well behaved" and if you're in a circumstances where you're often having to go through small claims court with clients on a routine basis, it begs the question of whether you're selecting the right clients or not. Having been in your shoes before, I will say that I've been guilty of selecting clients who showed warning signs of poor behavior that ultimately resulted in my work not getting paid. I began to turn away certain kind of work that made me hesitant of such an outcome, even if it seemed to be lucrative at the outset. Without understand your potential clientele better, it's hard to say whether this would work for your issues, but it may be worth considering.

yowlingcat 3y ago

There's an two potential avenues to fix this, one logistical and one relationship based. The logistical solution is to set up (depending on your services and client appetite) automatic payment through stripe + debit upon invoice at some T settlement period after invoicing, and offer a discount on services to compensate for the improved cashflow. This makes the "easy way" the way that is also best for you (and the client) and you may find that making the path of least resistance one which also results in you getting paid by default to be one that clears out this issue systematically for you with well behaved clients. Of course, that is the caveat -- some clients are pathologically not "well behaved" and if you're in a circumstances where you're often having to go through small claims court with clients on a routine basis, it begs the question of whether you're selecting the right clients or not. Having been in your shoes before, I will say that I've been guilty of selecting clients who showed warning signs of poor behavior that ultimately resulted in my work not getting paid. I began to turn away certain kind of work that made me hesitant of such an outcome, even if it seemed to be lucrative at the outset. Without understand your potential clientele better, it's hard to say whether this would work for your issues, but it may be worth considering.