When a Client Doesn’t Pay (You’re Not Alone)

Hey! I’m brushing the sand off my tootsies, as my Aunt Adele used to say, because I just got back from planning out my next business year in Mexico!

Each year around the end of October, I go with my team somewhere fun to reflect on the past business year and plan out the next. (It took me until Business Year 6, by the way, to be able to afford to do this.)

It wasn’t that long ago I’d just left the law and started my own health coaching business when IT happened.

That dreaded email that lands in your inbox and says,

”So and so’s credit card payment was declined” or “Invoice #12 is 30 days past due.”

My heart sank. I felt so panicked about how to go about getting paid. I was really angry at the person for not honoring their end of the bargain…. And angry at myself for not having taken payment first because I knew better.

I was a new business owner and a little more trusting/not so sure how the process should work, so I’d already had my coaching sessions with the person who owed me money.

Rookie mistake.

But also a super common, understandable mistake.

When a Client Doesn’t Pay

Learning how to run your own business is tough. There are a lot of moving parts, and sometimes it feels like as soon as you learn one lesson, there’s another one standing on your doorstep ready to be learned.

I’m not saying this to be scary — that’s never my intention — but if someone hasn’t stiffed you on payment yet, they will. It’s just inevitable. Stuff happens, bills don’t get paid, people can be people-y. It’s the cost of doing business, as they say.

But here’s what you need to know if a client doesn’t pay you:​

1️⃣ You didn’t do something wrong. You’re not a bad coach / creator / provider, it’s just a normal part of running a business. It is, however, a good time to take a look at your legal stuff and processes.
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2️⃣ This is why it’s important to get legal protection in place BEFORE someone doesn’t pay or a payment bounces. Once it happens, it’s too late (if you didn’t have any good legal in place).

You needed to have a legit contract or policy in place before they paid for your services, course, product, etc.
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That’s why I teach my Ultimate Bundle™️ members how to avoid late payments in the first place, and then give them all of the contract templates they need to have the legal language to back it up. (I also give them my Dunning Email Sequence, which gets recurring payments back on track!)

I sat down to chat with you some more about what to do if a client doesn’t pay you / a payment’s declined on my podcast, On Your Terms™️, today.

​Listen on my website, Spotify, or Apple now.

Once you listen, hit “reply” and let me know if the episode was helpful! 🙂

🎙 Listen to Episode 168 “What to Do If a Client Doesn’t Pay You” of On Your Terms here!