Template

Getting Paid

The terms that stop it happening, the invoice that can actually be paid, and six messages to send in order when it happens anyway.

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Cover of Getting Paid

The problem

What this solves

An unpaid invoice feels like a confrontation waiting to happen, so it gets left, and leaving it is what makes it one. Almost nobody who owes you money has decided not to pay.

Contents

What's included

  • Getting Paid, eight pages, as a PDF and as a web page.
  • Part 1, the four reasons invoices go unpaid, and how to tell which one you are in.
  • Part 2, six terms that go on the quote rather than the invoice, with a one paragraph version to paste under your price.
  • Part 3, the eight things an invoice needs before it can be paid, and the omission that causes most of the trouble.
  • Part 4, six messages in order, word for word, from three days before to thirty days after.
  • Part 5, the phone call, and what to say to cash flow is tight, we never received it, and a last minute dispute.
  • Part 6, three sheets to print, and a plain statement of where this stops.
  • Free updates for as long as the product exists, in your library.

How it works

Using it

  1. Fill in sheet 1, once

    Eight fields, ten minutes. Paste the result under every quote you send. That alone removes two of the four reasons invoices go unpaid, permanently.

  2. Run the invoice check before you send

    Eight lines, thirty seconds. It is the difference between an invoice that enters their system and one that quietly does not.

  3. Send the message three days before it is due

    Nothing is late, which is exactly why it works. It is the highest return item in the guide and the only one that is not a chase.

  4. If it goes past due, work the ladder

    Six messages, each with a day and a purpose. Rewrite them in your own voice. The order and the timing are the part that matters.

Outcomes

What you get out of it

  • The message that prevents most of this, sent three days before anything is late
  • A terms paragraph short enough that it actually gets read on a small job
  • An invoice that enters their system instead of being quietly rejected
  • Words for the day eight conversation, so it stops being a thing you put off
  • A calm written record by day thirty, if it ever gets that far

Fit

Who it's for

Anybody invoicing their own customers: trades, freelancers, consultants, small agencies. Mostly people who are good at the work and were never shown the administrative half of it.

Specifics

Product details

Format
Template
Version
1.0
Licence
Personal use
Language
English
Edition
Global
Last updated
September 2026
  • Eight pages, as a PDF and as a web page
  • Six escalation messages written out in full, with the day each one goes out
  • Four phone scripts for the answers people actually give
  • Three printable sheets: your terms, the invoice check, the chase log
  • No figures, no rates and no statutory claims, so nothing in it goes out of date

Questions

Frequently asked

Will this tell me what I am legally owed?

No, and it says so in three places. It covers your own commercial terms and the words you use. It deliberately does not tell you whether your late charge is enforceable, how long you have to bring a claim, or what a small claim costs, because all three differ by province and state and change. For those, ask somebody local and qualified.

Is it Canadian?

It has no region. Nothing in it is a rule, a rate or a threshold, so it reads the same in Toronto, Manchester and Denver. That is also why it never needs a dated edition.

I already have an invoice template. What does this add?

A template gives you boxes. This gives you the timing and the words: the six messages with the day each goes out, and the six terms that belong on the quote rather than the invoice, which is where most of the problem is actually decided.

Do the messages work if my client is a big company?

They are written with that case in mind. The second contact, the reference number and the copy-in step at two weeks all exist because large organisations lose invoices administratively rather than deliberately.

What if the client just will not pay?

Then you are past what this can do, and part 6 says that plainly. It names the three routes that exist after day thirty and tells you to take local advice on which is sensible. Its job is to make sure you rarely get there, and to leave you with a calm written record if you do.

Reviews

What customers say

No reviews yet, and we will not invent any. What you can rely on instead: you get the files listed on this page, they are yours to keep, and updates are free. If anything is wrong with them you get your money back.

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The Quote That Wins the Job

Seven things a quote has to say, three that lose it, and the terms paragraph that stops you chasing payment later.

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