I recently learned that you can file a 1099C, which is a discharge of debt. Then you can write off the bad debt and the IRS then goes after them for what they did not pay. That sounds like a pretty good outcome to me.
That sounds awesome!! Not having to waste your own time, money, and gas going after someone. Especially if you don't have time for office personnel to call 19 times to try and get the money. Great thing to look into!!
@@vibrantlawns2444, I just need to say that that’s not legal or financial advice. I actually saw that on another UA-cam video. But, the way I figure it, if you’re not getting the money anyways, at least you can write it off on your taxes. Then the IRS does all the work of making everything right with the world. I had one one time where a real estate agent had a house they were trying to sell and the grass was 2 feet high literally. The people had moved back to South Korea and just needed to sell the house but the city was about to start citing them. She put me in touch with the client who said yeah go ahead and do it and we will mail you a check, from South Korea. Lol. I said no I don’t think so. I charge them $500 and I said you, Western Union that here and as soon as I get the money, I will go cut the grass. He hemmed and paused and needed to talk to his wife. Five minutes later he said we’re heading to Western Union now. A half hour later I got the money and we went and did the job. That’s kind of an extreme example, but I got it right that time, at least
Good topic. A card on file (I use yard book) is great. My regular customers pay weekly or up front monthly. As for the overgrown first time folks it's half up front and the rest upon completion of the cut, it's not a bd idea to park your rig in front of their drive way so they can't sneak out. For slow payers it's cash up front.
I love that you have them on a weekly pay or upfront monthly. that is awesome. I like all of those practices that you use. it really protects you and if somebody has a problem with it being an inconvenience then they can go someplace else that charges monthly. I'm just not getting screwed over again and neither are you.
That's a way to go about it. Sounds like you've been stiffed before. You'd think since you know where they live, them not knowing you (who could be a little bit crazy), would be enough incentive for them to pay, but it's not.
Personally I do not take on one time overgrown lawns for that reason. If I get a call for one I just tell them that I am booked out and don’t have time to take that on. As for people not paying their bill…the very first thing to do is stop your service! If they aren’t going to pay you then you need to stop. We don’t work for free. I invoice at the end of each month. The residential customers have a 6 day pay period. If I do not receive payment, I stop the service immediately. If they choose to pay, I will come back out and they will be charged an overgrown fee on their next cut.
I stopped taking on overgrown lawns as well. It got old having to walk the lawn to make sure there were not any stumps, huge rocks or rebar that I was going to hit. Plus all the wear and tear on the mower is absolutely not worth it. That's a solid way to handle your invoicing and seems to work for you. I can't believe my friend when he told me how long it was when they hadn't paid. Plus he did mention that he had been trying to get a hold of them without any response. Once you've been doing any types of sales for a while or in business anyway, you start to realize that feeling you get when you don't get responses the first couple times. I know starting out for me was different this time but, I mentioned a customer that the card declined. I started running cards mobally on the job and sending a receipt when I would leave. I know that sounds petty but, I have to survive out here and I've been screwed over a few times so I really don't care what it looks like at this point. I've had no complaints. Thanks for sharing your methods and I appreciate you watching
@@vibrantlawns2444 Yeah I try not to put up with BS anymore. If something isn’t going good like they aren’t paying, I drop them and keep going. Yeah it sucks to have to do that but the work comes back pretty fast because you’ll get more calls leading to better clients.
That's one of the reasons why I made this video. Larger companies either have in-house collections or can afford to go to small claims court. It just doesn't make sense for some of us guys even for $1,200 which isn't a small amount. My wife could tell you that if somebody stiffed me for $1,200 she would probably be annoyed of hearing about it so much. I completely get that it's hard to let go of. That's another reason why you shouldn't treat every customer like they are a bad person because you did get ripped off. Putting credit cards on file or whatever works for you in place to help in case you run into this situation again.. Somehow you were going to have to get over the $1,200 unless they live close then you can maybe visit them once a night lol. But, sincerely I'm sorry to hear that and hope you find a process that works for you and gives you peace of mind
Dude residential pays on service day or 24 hrs of service just because you don’t go McDonalds or Starbucks and are like hey like I’ll pay you in month. Are industry is not like the cable bill or electricity bill at all not a chance in the world that I would let residential clients do that. The only way I let the month payment thing happen is only for commercial property’s and they must have a card on file for payment. Do all communication through email because if they can’t put in writing you don’t want to deal with them as a client 💯…
💯 !! I completely agree with you and it almost makes it sound like you think I was maybe promoting the month long misery of customers paying you last and some not paying you at all which just pisses you off and ruins your week... Commercial properties are a little more official and professional where they have maybe a net 30 because commercial properties that's how they operate and you're not necessarily going to get screwed over by a commercial property that wants to look good unless they go out of business but the likelihood of that is such a low percentage compared to how many people will screw you over on the residential side because every other bill will get paid before the guy that cuts the grass. People always told me that it would take too much of their time to charge people at the time of service or that day, but the thing is is that I make an extra 20 seconds in my day to get paid that day for peace of mind because it's going to the next job I'm in a good mood knowing I'm not getting screwed over.
A lot of things have crossed my mind that would be really great and probably make me feel better about the situation. But after a certain amount of time is gone by with no response you got to learn to move on 😂😆
Man your channel definitely accelerates the learning process, much appreciation.
Thanks Man!
GET YOUR MONEY UP FRONT!!!
I recently learned that you can file a 1099C, which is a discharge of debt. Then you can write off the bad debt and the IRS then goes after them for what they did not pay. That sounds like a pretty good outcome to me.
That sounds awesome!! Not having to waste your own time, money, and gas going after someone. Especially if you don't have time for office personnel to call 19 times to try and get the money. Great thing to look into!!
@@vibrantlawns2444, I just need to say that that’s not legal or financial advice. I actually saw that on another UA-cam video. But, the way I figure it, if you’re not getting the money anyways, at least you can write it off on your taxes. Then the IRS does all the work of making everything right with the world. I had one one time where a real estate agent had a house they were trying to sell and the grass was 2 feet high literally. The people had moved back to South Korea and just needed to sell the house but the city was about to start citing them. She put me in touch with the client who said yeah go ahead and do it and we will mail you a check, from South Korea. Lol. I said no I don’t think so. I charge them $500 and I said you, Western Union that here and as soon as I get the money, I will go cut the grass. He hemmed and paused and needed to talk to his wife. Five minutes later he said we’re heading to Western Union now. A half hour later I got the money and we went and did the job. That’s kind of an extreme example, but I got it right that time, at least
Good topic. A card on file (I use yard book) is great. My regular customers pay weekly or up front monthly. As for the overgrown first time folks it's half up front and the rest upon completion of the cut, it's not a bd idea to park your rig in front of their drive way so they can't sneak out. For slow payers it's cash up front.
I love that you have them on a weekly pay or upfront monthly. that is awesome. I like all of those practices that you use. it really protects you and if somebody has a problem with it being an inconvenience then they can go someplace else that charges monthly. I'm just not getting screwed over again and neither are you.
All good advice ..thanks for sharing
Thanks David. I appreciate you watching!!
If I get a yard that is a one time mow or someone approaches me while I’m out working, I get that yard paid upfront.
That's a way to go about it. Sounds like you've been stiffed before. You'd think since you know where they live, them not knowing you (who could be a little bit crazy), would be enough incentive for them to pay, but it's not.
Personally I do not take on one time overgrown lawns for that reason. If I get a call for one I just tell them that I am booked out and don’t have time to take that on.
As for people not paying their bill…the very first thing to do is stop your service! If they aren’t going to pay you then you need to stop. We don’t work for free.
I invoice at the end of each month. The residential customers have a 6 day pay period. If I do not receive payment, I stop the service immediately. If they choose to pay, I will come back out and they will be charged an overgrown fee on their next cut.
I stopped taking on overgrown lawns as well. It got old having to walk the lawn to make sure there were not any stumps, huge rocks or rebar that I was going to hit. Plus all the wear and tear on the mower is absolutely not worth it.
That's a solid way to handle your invoicing and seems to work for you. I can't believe my friend when he told me how long it was when they hadn't paid. Plus he did mention that he had been trying to get a hold of them without any response. Once you've been doing any types of sales for a while or in business anyway, you start to realize that feeling you get when you don't get responses the first couple times.
I know starting out for me was different this time but, I mentioned a customer that the card declined. I started running cards mobally on the job and sending a receipt when I would leave. I know that sounds petty but, I have to survive out here and I've been screwed over a few times so I really don't care what it looks like at this point. I've had no complaints.
Thanks for sharing your methods and I appreciate you watching
@@vibrantlawns2444 Yeah I try not to put up with BS anymore. If something isn’t going good like they aren’t paying, I drop them and keep going. Yeah it sucks to have to do that but the work comes back pretty fast because you’ll get more calls leading to better clients.
A client owes me over 1200 and I'm not sure how to go about it because legally I have no leverage. I just can't let it go.
That's one of the reasons why I made this video. Larger companies either have in-house collections or can afford to go to small claims court. It just doesn't make sense for some of us guys even for $1,200 which isn't a small amount. My wife could tell you that if somebody stiffed me for $1,200 she would probably be annoyed of hearing about it so much. I completely get that it's hard to let go of. That's another reason why you shouldn't treat every customer like they are a bad person because you did get ripped off. Putting credit cards on file or whatever works for you in place to help in case you run into this situation again.. Somehow you were going to have to get over the $1,200 unless they live close then you can maybe visit them once a night lol. But, sincerely I'm sorry to hear that and hope you find a process that works for you and gives you peace of mind
Dude residential pays on service day or 24 hrs of service just because you don’t go McDonalds or Starbucks and are like hey like I’ll pay you in month. Are industry is not like the cable bill or electricity bill at all not a chance in the world that I would let residential clients do that. The only way I let the month payment thing happen is only for commercial property’s and they must have a card on file for payment. Do all communication through email because if they can’t put in writing you don’t want to deal with them as a client 💯…
💯 !! I completely agree with you and it almost makes it sound like you think I was maybe promoting the month long misery of customers paying you last and some not paying you at all which just pisses you off and ruins your week... Commercial properties are a little more official and professional where they have maybe a net 30 because commercial properties that's how they operate and you're not necessarily going to get screwed over by a commercial property that wants to look good unless they go out of business but the likelihood of that is such a low percentage compared to how many people will screw you over on the residential side because every other bill will get paid before the guy that cuts the grass. People always told me that it would take too much of their time to charge people at the time of service or that day, but the thing is is that I make an extra 20 seconds in my day to get paid that day for peace of mind because it's going to the next job I'm in a good mood knowing I'm not getting screwed over.
Go back and cut it again.....on the lowest setting😅
A lot of things have crossed my mind that would be really great and probably make me feel better about the situation. But after a certain amount of time is gone by with no response you got to learn to move on 😂😆
its like builders/ concreters destroying their work thats wasnt paid for ahaha, just get on the yard with ya car and do burnouts