And I also know another window cleaner who says he doesn't collect, but he does; he does lots of shops, some small some big; and he spends a fair whack of time queing up with the customers, waiting for his turn to get paid.
Ahh, this must be me!
As many of my customers are shops I have no option but to collect them, unfortunately, when they are open and able to pay me I have to get in line like everyone else
I don't bother with collecting residential accounts though, for the most part anyway, though I do have one account I have to call back on to collect, but as it is one where I am passing by quite frequently I don't mind.
Some of the commercial ones can take a while to get paid from, the bigger offices and so on, but by and large my cash flow is quite good.
After you have got into the habit of not collecting and of getting your customers to pay via post or online the cash flow is fine, there may always be some outstanding, but there will also be a constant flow of envelopes through the letterbox and payments being made online; the analogy being that it is like being paid a monthly salary and working a month in lieu.
Once you educate your customers to pay you without you having to call by and collect from them it makes life so much easier...
Ian