If a client has ever asked about your payment options, you have some idea of the multitude and complexity of B2B payments. It's important to be flexible in your payment options, allowing your clients to pay in any way that's easier for them and quicker for  you. Slow-paying clients can kill your business, affecting cash flow, working capital and all that you need to keep producing your goods and services. 

While B2B payment options can be overwhelming, growing businesses must understand the reasons for flexibility and choosing the options that work best for clients.

Tracking and collecting receivables is vital to your business' cash flow. Without a steady cash flow, your business may not have enough working capital for important expenditures. Set up an organized accounts receivable department with dedicated responsibilities to ensure a positive cash flow and success for your business.

Here are three best practices to set up your accounts receivable department for success.

The dream of starting your own business is intoxicating, especially when you're tired of working for someone else's dream.  According to MBO Partners' 2018 State of Independence in America, 4.8 million independent workers are referring to themselves as "digital nomads" and seek the life of working from anywhere.  While the dream has become reality for many, still others are hoping to enter the world of entrepreneurship. As with any grass is always greener scenario, there is are ups and downs to owning your own business, not the least of which is a very different sort of stress than you may be used to.

Let's look closer at the causes of stress for entrepreneurs and some tips for handling it. 

Every service business has had one or two clients that fill them with a sense of dread. The business relationship may have started out well and then turned sour. Occasionally, there are those clients that were predictably difficult and that pit in your stomach told you they would be from the very first phone call. Depending on the status of your business and cash flow, you may choose to grin and bear it. You may also wonder how you can prevent future toxic client relationships.

Toxic client relationships can negatively affect service-based businesses. Here's how to deal with them and red flags that would have predicted them.

Within your accounting department, there are responsibilities that can help or hamper your business' bottom line. Today we'll examine a relationship that is closely tied and could be the answer to negative cash flow. While your sales team greatly affects operations, it's the collections of those accounts that really determines the success of your business. When your accounts receivable team is not able to collect and are consistently writing off bad debt, it may be time to turn to your credit manager for answers.

A credit manager's job can affect collections and it's important to understand how.

Cash Flow is the flow of cash or cash-equivalent into and out of the organization, as a measure of a business' liquidity and overall performance, within a certain period of time.

The catch-22 of running a creative, digital marketing or ad agency is that it takes money to make money. While it would seem that bringing on more clients would increase cash flow, the challenge is having enough employees available to handle the client work. And if a client quits your agency, will you be laying off those employees? These are only a few of the thoughts that plague the mind of an agency owner when they're trying to get to sleep at night. Cash is king and must be available to keep the lights on, the employees happy and your clients on board for the long haul.

Tackle these four things to solve the cash flow problem of marketing and ad agencies. 

When growing a business, organized finances, documented processes and the perfect staff can contribute to positive feedback and referrals from  clients. Even when everything is going right, there will be that one particular client who seemingly steals your joy.  Whether they're being difficult or too demanding (hello scope creep), it's imperative to set boundaries on the B2B relationship.  When they don't pay their invoices, it could be even more frustrating. 

When you're doing everything right in your business, what do you do with that one client who refuses to pay?

Working capital and cash flow is imperative to any successful business. Accounts receivable management can help ensure access to cash through a consistent credit, invoicing and collections process. Business-to-business, or B2B, collections is different from consumer collections and the procedures for collection must be handled differently as well.

An effective B2B collections process will elicit more working capital and improve cash flow. Here's how...

Running a business when you can't predict monthly income can stress out any business owner. Some months, new clients seem to drop from the sky and other months, there's an actual sound of crickets chirping. A feast or famine lifestyle isn't healthy for anyone but there is a way to not only survive, but thrive. A little organization and a some steady work habits can help keep your budget on track.

Here's a freelance survival guide to thriving during the feast or famine cycle of income.