You do not say which country (and thus legal jurisdiction) you live in - so that probably means you live and work in the USA. If you were in the UK then you ca

You do not say which country (and thus legal jurisdiction) you live in - so that probably means you live and work in the USA. If you were in the UK then you can't normally recover time spent in persuading your debtors to pay their bills. You can however start to charge interest on the outstanding balance after a reasonable period of time - and after giving due notice. Perhaps others can contribute answers that relate to other countries.