64 Days Until Payment: Invoiced in April, Payroll Due Friday—How Do You Not Bounce?

General
1

Invoiced a client $8K in April, Net 30, supposed to land May 1st. It’s May 15. They promised it’s “in process,” check is “coming next week.”

Meanwhile: I have three employees whose payroll is Friday (May 17). My bank balance is $3K. This isn’t theory for me—this is Wednesday afternoon and I’m genuinely unsure I can meet payroll. How does anyone do this? Do you all carry a 3-month emergency reserve, or am I the only one operating this close to the edge?

2

64 days is killing us too.

3

Bob, real question: how many months of cash reserve are you trying to build, ideally?

4

Fred’s right but it’s thornier in practice. I moved to 50% upfront retainer + 50% on delivery. Solved half the cash flow problem—predictable $4K every month. But half my prospects said no, and existing clients complained like I’d doubled rates.

Still don’t know if it scales.