They say that if you are a small business owner you must wear many hats. Sometimes I feel like we need to add a dentist’s hat to the list because getting paid can be like pulling teeth.

And it’s not getting any easier. When it comes to payments, “take fast, pay slow” seems to be the order of the day.

I used to be able to count on at least a few days of lag time between writing a check and having that check clear my bank account. But these days, checks go through almost instantly. At the same time, payments seem to come in at around “slow boat from China” speed.

This creates a need to pay much closer attention to our cash flow to avoid the dreaded overdrafts which now cost 30, 40, 50 bucks a pop. A late payment can wreak havoc with the bank account and end up costing hundreds of dollars, none of which is going to be recoverable.