Slow payers and small business

[Isetech]

We talking small business. When you are a CC or PTY, that's a different ball game.

I have been on a mission to become debt free, by this I mean no overdraft and no credit card limit, why would I do such a silly thing when I run a business?

There are a few people out there who can manage debt but I am not one of the many who cant.

Throw in a few slow payers and you will spend the rest of your life paying interest and fees.

A lesson I have learnt and will be doing going forward, I would rather take a loan and pay off a set amount knowing that in a set period of time it will be paid off, rather than paying interest and fees on a life long debt that just never goes away (unless you can mange your finances).

What people dont realise when they dont pay a small business on time, the chain reaction it causes.

I am in this position right now, I have a slow payer who is slowly becoming a bad debt. It is affects my service to my good customer who pay. I did get a deposit and now waiting for final payment, which is still a lot of money.

It is not fair on the good customers, because they pay on time and some even pay in full before I start the job. Because of the slow paying customer I get behind on other stuff like equipment maintenance, so now a machine and the vehicle cant be serviced because I dont have the funds.

I dont just work for anyone, I only work for people I trust, you have to be referred by a friend or one of my existing customers, however ever now and again one of these people slip in and screw up the whole process.

I dont need slow payers and would much rather build stuff in my workshop, rather than go out to site and do work for a slow payer. If you become a slow payer you generally get a star next to your name and when I see the number, I dont bother answering the phone.

You can do all the business training and courses, even get a business couch and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, slow payers and bad debt will destroy your business.