The invoice

You need to put as much language in your invoice as possible.  This should include payment terms, methods of acceptable payment, and consequences of nonpayment.  Cashier’s checks and money orders are better than personal checks.  Fortunately, in six years I have only had one check bounce.  The customer was very nice and immediately rectified the situation.  In today’s world there are so many different ways to accept payment.  Venmo and Zelle are both very popular.  We encourage our customers to send one dollar as a test payment before sending large amounts of money electronically. There are other apps such as PayPal and cash app. I found it best to just stick with one or two rather than register will all of the available apps. In my experience the majority of our payments come from Zelle with the few remaining percentage coming from Venmo and check.

It isn’t very common but ACH payments are another way to receive payments.  Payment terms such as payment are due upon receipt are very important when setting expectations for payment.  You should also include language regarding penalties and fees for nonpayment or non-timely payment.

You may end up doing commercial work.  Some companies will have payment terms of net 30, net 60 or even net 90.  Unless you can afford to wait this long for payment you may want to pass on those jobs.  Just make sure you clarify this upfront before committing to the job.