Yesterday was a whirlwind with three clients dropping urgent requests on me. Meanwhile, I’m still pursuing payments for completed projects from weeks ago. Balancing current work while chasing past payments is really wearing me out.
Is there a better way to handle this mess?
Set boundaries upfront about rush requests. I tell clients they’ll pay extra for urgent work and need 24 hours notice unless it’s a genuine emergency.
For payments, send weekly reminder emails. Most clients just forget, but the ones who keep dodging aren’t worth keeping.
I block out specific hours for chasing payments now. Used to let it bleed into project time - total nightmare.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, morning payment follow-ups. Simple template: ‘hey, checking on invoice #123 from [date].’ 30 minutes max.
When clients say it’s urgent, I ask upfront: ‘what’s your timeline and budget for rush work?’ Half realize it’s not urgent. Other half pay extra to jump the queue.
Keeping this stuff separate from actual work changed everything. Project time = projects only.
Stop working for clients who haven’t paid their invoices. Don’t chase old money while doing new work for the same people who owe you. For urgent jobs, I charge 50% extra and need money upfront - it filters out fake emergencies. Set payment terms to 15 days max. Anything longer just encourages clients to pay late.
Three urgent requests in one day? That’s brutal. Here’s how I stopped drowning in this mess:
For urgent requests:
For unpaid invoices:
Biggest game changer? I treat payment collection like any other business task. Calendar reminders and actually following through instead of hoping they’ll just pay.
Clients with constant “emergencies” are usually just bad planners. Don’t make their poor planning your problem.
I just ask for payment upfront now. Saves a lot of headaches down the road.
Yeah I just tell them next week unless they pay extra.