When small companies deal with larger ones, particularly big, publicly traded ones, it’s important for the small company to appreciate that payment of their invoices will be slow. I know it’s not necessarily fair, but to some extent, that’s the way it goes. (And, yes, we could definitely have a whole other conversation on the fairness of business …) So, smaller businesses must be sure beforehand that their cashflow can handle the delayed payment. In my experience, payment will always be made in the end, it’s just a matter of being able to wait out the delay.

The upside of working with bigger companies is typically bigger projects and bigger budgets. The downside is the slowness of payment. It’s all a matter of risks and rewards; the trick for a small business is to be sure it can manage the risk (by maintaining a strong cash flow) to secure the reward.

As for paying my own suppliers, I try to pay in the same way that I demand services. When I ask my suppliers to turn around projects quickly, I make efforts to pay them as quickly as they work, effectively rewarding their extra efforts with quick cash. (This also helps secure suppliers’ willingness to handle future requests for speedy work.)