Fortune_Hunter - 7:53 pm on Jul 23, 2009 (gmt 0)

I am discovering with this recession that many small businesses still want to do web site projects, but many of them are predictably "low on cash" hence the problem. I want to bring in new accounts and in many of these cases I know these people. I am considering extending credit or setting up payment plans for clients.

My thinking is I can continue to follow my existing policies where I ask for 50% down and the remainder on completion or partial payments until complete depending on how quick the project is going. Unfortunately most small businesses don't seem to have that type of cash laying around any more.

My thought is if I broke payments into 12 months or 4 payments or some other type of bite sized arrangement I could bring in new work and set up some predictable monthly income streams for a period of time and help these people out at the same time. Not as great as large pay day projects, but probably more realistic in this economy.

Obviously the issues of extending credit is missed payments or worse no payments and outright defaults. Sure I can probably remove the web site when that happens, but unfortunately I am still out the time.

Any advice about how or policies used from others would be much appreciated.