Top Tips for working for yourself: Cashing in on your services

Working for yourself is great, you have much more freedom than a conventional 9-5 and you have a bit more freedom to pick and choose your clients. While there are many perks to being self-employed there are many things you will need to deal with that you probably haven’t prepared yourself for. The most important skill you’ll need to have is being able to cash in on your services.

People don’t like letting go of their money, often making it difficult to get regular payments. This is what you need to know:

Be brave

A lot of people shy away from debt collection, they may not want the confrontation or they may feel rude asking for payment – but if you don’t ask, you won’t get! The worst thing you can do in this situation is not ask and allow your customers to receive your services without paying for them. The second worst thing you could do is cause a massive argument with the client over payment, as they will probably stop using your services. Approach them in a clear and calm manner, showing them the work you have done and remind them that they are contracted to pay you – a little patience and understanding combined with hard facts will help to wrap up this situation.

Negotiate a win-win situation

Sometimes one party will feel as though they are losing out in the deal – perhaps the work wasn’t exactly what the client asked for or the payment wasn’t enough for the work provided. These can turn into very tense and negative situations unless they are properly controlled. If you feel as though you are in the wrong then renegotiate the price they have to pay; while this may feel like a backwards step, some money is better than none!

Send an official payment request

If after initial contact the client still has not paid for your services then send them a letter requesting full payment by a certain date. While this may seem cold and forward it is likely to grab their attention as they know that you are serious. Don’t be afraid to set a due date for payment, giving them around 10 to 20 days to make the payment from the time they receive the letter – this way they won’t panic about payment but will feel the need to make a quick payment.

Invoice factoring

When this becomes a common problem it may be a good idea to take on an invoice factoring broker & service to give you a regular income. Invoice factoring gives you a certain amount of the total sum owed once the contract has been made and provides the rest, minus a small sum, once the money has been collected. Best of all, you wouldn’t have to collect the money yourself as it would become the broker’s prerogative to chase the client for the money. This can help you to maintain good relationships with your clients while getting the payments you need and deserve every month.

The Best “You Owe Me Money” Letters

If someone has ever owed you money then at some point or another you’ve undoubtedly penned a strongly worded letter asking them to pay up. Many of these are very formal and professional running along the lines of:

‘We are disappointed to find that you have not paid your bill of [x amount],
you have 10 days to pay this debt until we take further action.’

However, there are hundreds or possibly thousands of cases where these letters aren’t quite so PC and formal. In fact, some are the most sarcastic, passive aggressive, give-me-money-or-else pieces of prose we’ve ever read. Here are some of the best:

Making it personal

There’s nothing that works better than a personal approach, especially if you are a freelancer or a small company. Write them a letter by hand, detailing just how much them missing their payments affects you. Normally this will appeal to their sense of humanity and they will quickly pay up out of guilt – tailor this to your audience however, some people will not bend to your pleas.

Note: don’t try this on fictional characters:

‘Dear tooth fairy,
I lost my tooth on 23 of Oct. Now it is Nov 12. I lost my tooth in pizza. I lost both today. You owe me $1.00 not to be hard but I need money.’

(Credit: http://cdn-ugc.cafemom.com/gen/resize/282/320/80/2011/07/13/14/2w/r4/poqpbsc3y8.jpg)

Play it passive aggressive

While getting angry may make you feel better it often makes things worse and won’t be helpful for collecting debts. That being said, being passive aggressive can be worth its weight in gold. There are some brilliant debt letters out there from people needing payment, the best one we’ve seen so far is this:

‘With the holidays approaching, there is no time like the present for ‘presents.’ If you have received this email it is because you owe me money for some reason. As a ‘hassle-free’ gift idea, it would be great if you simply mail me a check for the amount you owe.’

(Credit: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5090/5218412042_949c10cd44_o.jpg)

 

Public shaming

There’s no point beating around the bush, if someone owes you money tell them straight. If they still refuse to pay then a public shaming may be in order. There are examples of this everywhere, from family members shaming their relations with just how much money they owe to companies flagging up clients. One clever tactic was used by a web design company, harming their reputation and letting everyone know they haven’t paid by changing their homepage to a note about their failure to pay.

‘[Client name] preferred to ignore our invoices instead of paying them. As a result this website is no longer operational. We regret any inconvenience this may cause for you as a customer of [client], however it is a necessary measure in getting what is rightfully ours.’

(Credit: http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8228/8475052192_8a1a4ac854.jpg)

Being sarcastic

Sick of playing the good guy? Be sarcastic. The more outrageous the better! This is an excellent approach for winding people up until they beg you to take out invoice factoring so that they never have to be bothered by you again. However, be prepared for people to return fire with their own insanely annoying levels of sarcasm and NEVER reply to an email from David Thorne.

‘I do not have any money so am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I value the drawing at $233.95 so trust that this settles the matter.’

(Credit:http://www.geekologie.com/2008/11/13/spider-1.jpg)

Get angry

When all else fails it is time to get angry. Force invoice factoring on them if they are incapable of paying on time, take legal action if they fail to pay at all and think about the bailiff approach if you continue to not see any money. Alternatively you could write them a strongly worded letter demanding your hard-earned cash to be paid up immediately or you’ll get very, very cross. The best thing you can do is stop every service you are doing for them and refuse to cooperate until they make the payment – make sure you tell other service providers just how awful they are at paying. See how they respond to that!

Top Tips on Becoming a Commercial Landlord

Although the economic downturn hasn’t been kind to many, rock bottom property prices have presented an opportunity for many people to buy houses and office blocks with the intentions of becoming a landlord.

However, being a landlord isn’t as simple as many people think. There are many things you need to deal with. Here are some of the top tips to follow when you plan on becoming a commercial landlord:

Think about the property

When you’re buying a property there are many things you will need to consider – mainly the space that’s available and the location of the building. Generally, the bigger the space available the more money you will be able to charge your tenants per month and if this is close to a city centre or business hub then you’ll reap the rewards. If you are buying a building in order to develop it, then ensure your plans open up lots of useable space and create a pleasant, safe environment.

It’s a long term game

Letting commercial properties is a more long-term game than its residential counterpart, so you may find that offering longer business leases is a great way to get more loyal tenants. This may mean that you charge them less per calendar month to rent the property, but it will save you money in the long run as you won’t have to replace the tenants every year or so. Ensure that you have a policy about giving notice before they plan on vacating the premises, so that you’re given time to find someone to fill the void.

Getting the best finance

As a landlord, having the best possible finance package can have a huge impact, as the mortgage will have a huge impact on the rent you need to charge. In order to get the best possible rates you should contact a commercial mortgage broker who will be able to secure a finance package to suit your needs.

Keep up with legal requirements

Before you let out the property, you need to make sure that you’re complying with all the legal requirements described by the Code for Leasing Business Premises in England and Wales. This helps to not only protect the tenants but gives you a checklist for drawing up terms of contract for leasing the property. Following all the legal requirements will give you an excellent standing as a landlord and can enhance your rights.

Willing to adjust

Businesses fluctuate all the time, which can impact on the space they require. If you are able to reduce or increase the space the business requires in relatively short amounts of times then you may see huge benefits. Targeting SMEs specifically is a great way to fill your commercial properties with paying tenants that could expand to fill out the property. It could be that once you’ve found a company to fill the space they will be there until you decide to sell the building.

The World’s Most Infamous Debt Collectors

Let’s be honest here, nobody likes a debt collector. Generally, you’re already stressed out about owing money without someone coming around and hammering on your door asking for money. If the person you owe money to is kind you may only have to deal with invoice factoring people, but keep abusing your credit and you may open the door to some rather unpleasant folk.

Not all debt collectors are horrible bullyboys, some famous faces have filled this job role at one point or another. Here are some of the names you may recognise:

Mickey Rourke

Almost unsurprisingly, Mickey Rourke has a bit of a dodgy past that includes working as a heavy for some gamblers in New York. From the sounds of his antics, he is one debt collector you really would not want to open the door to – especially considering his use of violence and extreme threats to get you to pay up.

Jude Law

Okay, maybe this isn’t a real life story, but he was a force to be reckoned with in the 2010 hit Repo Men. Let’s just be glad that we can’t buy artificial organs on credit – it’s bad enough having your car repossessed but at least it doesn’t kill you! Sapochnik’s film paints the future in a very scary way – hopefully when artificial parts do come around the finance packages involved are a bit more flexible.

The Repo Men

Before being axed by the Office of Fair Trade, Channel Four’s hit series ‘The Repo Man’ followed the debt collecting firm, Donegal Finance Limited. The series featured the repossession of assets from cars to TVs, including one couple who bought a second hand car without realising outstanding debts were tied to it. It was the strong-arm approach to debt collecting that forced the OFT to revoke their licence and suspend the show.

Billy Connolly

Similarly to Jude Law, Connolly has only played a debt collector on the big screen – but boy was he scary! His character was the notorious Nickie Dryden, a debt collector with a reputation for torture and murder. The Debt Collector shows the world of the debt collector in a very negative light, portraying his struggle with the law with the crooked ins and outs of the business.

William Jackson a.k.a Action Jackson

Action Jackson earned his nickname from being a juice man or debt collector for the Chicago mafia. The Chicago Police described him by saying that he had the body and strength of a giant but only the mind of a child, making him a perfect man to carry out collections for the mob. Unfortunately, a life of collecting mafia debts didn’t save Action Jackson from a grizzly death, as he was turned on by his own when it came out that he was a rat.