Ninety days. Three emails, all polite, all ignored. You like this client and you'd like to keep them — and you cannot run a business on goodwill. Today you ring, and you don't come off the phone without a date.
The Scene 🎬
Your terms say thirty days. It is day ninety-one.
The work was signed off in March. Nobody has complained about it, nobody has queried the amount, and nobody has paid it. You've sent three emails — each one slightly more apologetic than the last, which is the wrong direction — and had one reply saying it was "with accounts".
Ravi is the person you actually deal with. He's decent, he likes your work, and he has no idea how long this has gone on because it isn't his department and nobody has told him. He is also not the person who pays you — and that's the thing this call has to solve.
Two outcomes matter. You want a date. And you want to still have this client afterwards, because they're forty per cent of your year.
Have you ever been owed money by someone you couldn't afford to annoy? What did you do?
Why is chasing money so much harder than doing the work? What are we actually afraid of?
YouFreelance. Ninety-one days out of pocket, three emails deep, and not willing to send a fourth.
RaviYour contact at the client. Friendly, embarrassed once he understands, and not the person who releases payments — which is exactly what you need to find out.
First: read the conversation in the next tab, and count how many times You apologises for chasing. It's once. Everything after that is questions — and it's the questions, not the apologies, that get the date.
The Conversation 💬
A phone call, Tuesday, half past nine.
RaviMorning! How are you — did you get the brief for the autumn thing?
YouI did, yeah, and I want to talk about that. But can I do the boring bit first — I'm just chasing the invoice from March. I don't think it's come through yet.
RaviOh — March? That's — hang on, that's been a while, hasn't it. I thought that was all done.
YouSo did I, to be honest. It's ninety days now, which is well past our terms. Sorry to be the one chasing money.
RaviNo — no, don't apologise, that's — that's on us. It'll be with accounts. It's normally quite quick.
YouDo you know where in the process it's sat? Because I've had "with accounts" once already and I'm not sure what that actually means.
RaviRight, so — it goes to me to approve, then it goes into the run. And I'd have approved it, I always— …actually. Hang on. Was that the one that came in when I was off?
YouPossibly. Is there anything you need from me to get it moving? I can resend it this morning.
RaviYeah — resend it to me directly, not the invoices inbox. I'll approve it today.
YouBrilliant. And once you've approved it — who would actually press the button on it?
RaviThat's Fenella in finance. It goes in the Thursday run, normally.
YouThursday. So am I right in thinking — you approve today, it goes in Thursday's run, and I'd see it when?
RaviShould be in your account Friday. Might be Monday.
YouCan I put a date in my diary to stop worrying about it? Say Monday — and if it's not there Monday I'll ring you rather than email.
RaviYeah. Do that. Honestly, ring me, don't email — the inbox is where things go to die.
YouNoted. And look — I'd rather sort it between us than start sending formal reminders. But I'm a one-man band. It's a different size of problem for me than it is for you.
RaviNo, I know. I do know that. It shouldn't have gone this long, that's — yeah. Sorry.
YouThese things happen. Right — the autumn brief. I'd love to do it. I don't want to stop work on the next piece, but I can't really start it until this one's cleared. Is that fair?
RaviThat's completely fair. Get it resent, I'll do it this morning.
From memory — don't scroll back up.
One question makes Ravi realise what's actually gone wrong. Which one, and what had happened?
Ravi gives You two pieces of inside information about how to get paid faster. What are they?
How does You link the unpaid invoice to the new job — and why is it phrased as a question at the end?
1. "Do you know where in the process it's sat?" — asking about the process rather than the money makes him walk through the steps out loud, and he realises it arrived while he was off, so it was never approved.
2. Send invoices to him directly rather than the invoices inbox, and ring rather than email. Neither is written down anywhere; both came from asking.
3. By saying he can't start the next piece until this one clears — then ending on "Is that fair?", which invites agreement instead of forcing a confrontation. Ravi agrees immediately.
Useful Phrases 🧰
Ten phrases for chasing money without damaging the relationship. Each one does a specific job, and every one of them works on a landlord, a customer or a client — swap the nouns and they still stand. Say each out loud BEFORE you reveal it.
Say it like you mean it. The commonest mistake is sounding sorry all the way through. Apologise once, briefly, at the start — then stop, and switch to questions. Questions sound like admin; repeated apologies sound like you don't really believe you're owed it. Keep your voice light and businesslike, the way you'd query a delivery date.
📞 Opening the chase
Phrase 1
The job: raising it without accusing anyone. Which opening keeps him helpful?
A. "I still haven't been paid for March."
B. "I'm just chasing the invoice from March — I don't think it's come through yet."
C. "This is now the fourth time I've had to contact you about this."
B — "I'm just chasing the invoice from March — I don't think it's come through yet." A is an accusation aimed at the person who happens to have answered. C opens with a grievance and he'll spend the call defending the company instead of helping you. B does three things: just chasing makes it routine admin rather than a confrontation; the invoice from March names it precisely; and I don't think it's come through leaves open the possibility that it's your error, which costs you nothing and keeps him on your side.
Take it anywhere: "I'm just chasing the ___ — I don't think it's come through yet."
Phrase 2
The job: acknowledging the awkwardness — once. Complete it:
"Sorry to be the one ___ money."
"Sorry to be the one chasing money." To chase is to keep contacting someone to get what you're owed — the standard word for this in British business English. Say it once and it makes you human. Say it twice and you've conceded that asking to be paid is an imposition. Notice it apologises for the role, not for the request.
Take it anywhere: "Sorry to be the one ___" — chasing money, asking again, bringing this up.
🔍 Finding out what's actually happened
Phrase 3
The job: getting past "it's with accounts". This is the question that breaks the call open — ask about the process, not the money. Put the pieces in order:
in the processDo you know whereit's sat?
"Do you know where in the process it's sat?" "It's with accounts" is a wall. This question walks him through his own system out loud — and that's how he discovers it arrived while he was off and was never approved. Asking about a process is also non-threatening: he isn't being asked to justify anything, just to describe how things work.
Take it anywhere: any time you're told something is "being looked at", "in the system", or "with the team".
Phrase 4
The job: offering to do the work rather than asking him to. Say it out loud, then write it.
e.g. "Is there anything you need from me to get it moving?" Turns you from someone making a demand into someone solving a shared problem — and it's how you find out that invoices should go to him directly rather than the inbox. People give up useful information much more readily when they're being asked to receive help than when they're being asked to provide it.
Take it anywhere: "Is there anything you need from me to ___?"
Phrase 5
The job: finding the person who can actually release the money — because it usually isn't the one you're speaking to. Complete it:
"Who would actually ___ the button on it?"
"Who would actually press the button on it?" To press the button on something is to be the one who finally makes it happen. Every organisation has an approver and a payer and they're rarely the same person; if you don't ask, you'll spend months chasing someone with no power to pay you. Actually is the load-bearing word — it politely signals you know the official answer won't be the true one.
Take it anywhere: "Who would actually press the button on it?" works for any decision stuck in a company.
📅 Turning vague into dated
Phrase 6
The job: refusing a vague promise without calling it vague. Complete it:
"When you say shortly, are we ___ this week or next?"
"When you say shortly, are we talking this week or next?" Quotes their own word back and asks them to define it — which nobody can do vaguely a second time. Offering two options rather than an open question makes it almost impossible to dodge. Perfectly polite, and completely immovable.
Take it anywhere: "When you say ___, are we talking ___ or ___?" — the single most useful sentence in this lesson. Use it on "soon", "shortly", "in due course", "next few weeks".
Phrase 7
The job: pinning a date while sounding like you're doing it for your own peace of mind rather than to hold them to account. Which version?
A. "Can I put a date in my diary to stop worrying about it?"
B. "I'll need a firm commitment on a date, please."
C. "So when will it be paid, exactly?"
A — "Can I put a date in my diary to stop worrying about it?" B and C both get you a date and cost you some warmth — they sound like the opening of a dispute. A gets the identical date by framing it as something that helps you sleep, which is true and impossible to refuse. The date is no less firm for having been asked for kindly.
Take it anywhere: "Can I put a date in my diary to ___?"
⚖️ Saying it matters
Phrase 8
The job: conveying the real weight of it without pleading. Complete it:
"It's ninety days now, which is well past our ___."
"It's ninety days now, which is well past our terms." A number and a standard, with no emotion attached. Terms are the payment conditions you both agreed at the start — invoking them isn't aggressive, it's just pointing at the deal. "Ninety days" does more work than any adjective could: it's checkable, it's undeniable, and it sounds worse said aloud than it did in an email.
Take it anywhere: "It's ___ now, which is well past ___."
Phrase 9
The job: explaining why this is bigger for you than for them — without asking for sympathy. Say it out loud, then write it.
e.g. "I'm a one-man band — it's a different size of problem for me than it is for you." A one-man band is a business run by a single person. This is a statement of scale, not a plea: the same sum is an accounting delay to them and a month's rent to you. Said flatly it lands hard, because it's simply true. Said pitifully it invites sympathy, which doesn't pay invoices.
Take it anywhere: "It's a different size of problem for me than it is for you."
🔗 Linking it to the next job
Phrase 10
The job: using the work they want as leverage — without it sounding like a threat. Put the pieces in order:
but I can't really start itI don't want to stop workuntil this one's cleared.on the next piece,
"I don't want to stop work on the next piece, but I can't really start it until this one's cleared." The strongest card you hold, played gently. It isn't a refusal — it opens by saying you want the work — it's simply a consequence, stated as a fact about your situation rather than a condition you're imposing. In the conversation it's followed by "Is that fair?", which invites him to agree rather than daring him to object, and he agrees instantly.
Take it anywhere: "I don't want to ___, but I can't really ___ until ___."
🗣️ And when you don't follow what they're saying
Bonus
You're doing this in English, and finance people speak in their own vocabulary — remittance, payment run, PO number. Two phrases keep you in control while you find out what something means. Say them out loud, then write them.
"Sorry, what's a payment run — is that the same as it being paid?" and "Just so I've got that right: it's approved, but not scheduled?"
Asking what a word means does not make you look weak; it makes you look like someone who intends to hold them to the answer. And saying the situation back in your own plain words is how you catch the difference between approved and paid — which is exactly the gap money disappears into.
Take them anywhere: "Sorry, what's ___ — is that the same as ___?" and "Just so I've got that right: ___?"
🔑 Make them yours
These work on anyone who owes you something — money, a decision, a document, a repair. Fill the frames with your own life. Say each answer out loud before you type it.
"When you say ___, are we talking ___ or ___?" — who has told you "soon" and not come back?
"Who would actually press the button on it?" — where are you chasing someone who can't actually decide?
"I don't want to ___, but I can't really ___ until ___." — what's your version?
Quick test: run the call out loud using all ten — chase it → apologise once → where in the process → anything you need from me → who presses the button → define "shortly" → a date for my diary → ninety days past terms → different size of problem → can't start the next one. Count your apologies. If there's more than one, run it again.
Your Turn 🎭
Now you make the call. Twice — once chasing, once being chased.
Round 1 — you're owed the money
Same call, same Ravi — he's just answered, cheerfully, and started talking about the next job. Every fact you need is already in this lesson.
RaviMorning! How are you — did you get the brief for the autumn thing?
Answer warmly, then ask to do "the boring bit" first — you're just chasing the March invoice.
RaviOh — March? That's been a while, hasn't it. I thought that was all done.
Agree it's gone on too long, give the exact number of days and note it's past your terms. Apologise once, and only once.
RaviNo — don't apologise, that's on us. It'll be with accounts. It's normally quite quick.
Don't accept the vague answer — ask about the process, not the money.
RaviRight, so it goes to me to approve, then into the run. Actually — hang on, was that the one that came in when I was off?
Offer to help remove the blockage, then find out who actually releases the payment.
RaviThat's Fenella in finance. Should be in your account Friday. Might be Monday.
Pin the vague timing to an actual date, framed as being for your own peace of mind.
RaviYeah. Do that. Honestly, ring me, don't email.
Say why it matters in scale, then link the unpaid invoice to the new job you'd love to do — ending on a question, not a threat.
Round 2 — now you're on the other end of the phone
Swap. This time it's Priti chasing you — a designer whose invoice from April has gone sixty-five days, and you didn't know it had run on this long. You can't pay her yourself. What you can do is stop being a wall.
PritiHi — sorry to call out of the blue. I'm just chasing an invoice from April, sixty-five days now, which is past the terms we agreed. I don't think it's come through yet.
React honestly — don't hide behind "that's accounts" — and admit you didn't realise it had gone on this long.
PritiDo you know where in the process it's sat? Is there anything you need from me to get it moving?
Walk through your own system out loud, realise what actually went wrong, and tell her exactly what would help.
PritiI don't want to stop the next project, but I can't really start it until this one's cleared. Is that fair?
Agree, and say what you'll personally do to make sure it doesn't happen again.
⚡ The twist
Ravi resends it and approves it. Then on Thursday he rings you back, awkward: finance won't pay it because there's no purchase order number on it — and there never was one, because nobody told you their process had changed in January. They're now saying it may need re-raising against this year's budget, which could push it to April.
You did nothing wrong, the delay is entirely theirs, and the person telling you is the one who's been helping. What do you say?
Before you close the tab…
Can you raise unpaid money without accusing the person who answered the phone?
Can you apologise exactly once, and then switch to questions?
Can you make someone define "shortly" without any edge in your voice?
Can you find out who actually releases the payment?
Can you connect it to the next job as a fact rather than a threat?
The Echo 🕰️
The Medici did not become the most powerful family in Europe by owning things. They became powerful by keeping accounts — two columns, debit and credit, every branch from Bruges to Rome reconciled against every other.
It sounds like bookkeeping and it was closer to a weapon. Knowing precisely who owed what, and for how long, is what let a family of merchants fund popes and finance wars. The ledger was the power.
Ninety-one days is a number in a column. Almost every freelancer knows the feeling of not quite wanting to look at it — and the Medici would tell you that the looking is the whole job.