I’m back from leave. I’ve had an incredible time with my family, and am feeling really rested and ready for the new year.

But I’m feeling really cross today. We have some really large corporate clients with whom we do happy business most of the year. We did fabulous work for a couple of those in October and November, and had two hefty invoices generated for them, well in advance of the silly season. Each invoice was big enough, in fact, to cover our entire salary bill for a month, and if even one of them had paid when they said they would (which was WAY after their actual due date), we would all have had a happy Christmas with salaries in early.

BUT guess what: neither of them have paid yet.  We had to go grovelling to the bank to cover our salary and VAT bills, and now, on the 6th of January, we’re staring down the barrel of our PAYE and supplier payments, and STILL no payment from our corporate clients!  Everyone seems to have headed off on holiday with their salaries and Christmas bonuses comfortably in their pockets, without a passing thought for the small guys who just don’t have the cash flow to carry their companies until some person comes back in the middle of January and presses the ‘PAY’ button they forgot to press before going on leave.

It’s not fair, guys!  We are known in the industry for giving every ounce of the extra mile: we deliver way above the standards of our competitors, and often at great personal cost!  We love to do what we do, but when our clients don’t pay their bills on time, it really makes Avo an unhappy place.  We all feel very compressed, stressed and unappreciated for the work we do, and a lot of our productive time goes into scrabbling for cash to pay OUR suppliers on time!

So big guys - spare a thought for the little guys!  The economy isn’t being kind to anyone right now, but we’re the ones sailing closest to the wind.  Your lack of care in managing payment on time could well mean the demise of some of the small guys out there!