Struggling to get paid

There are some straightforward online programmes ... Sage, Quickbooks, Accountz ... you have to pay for them, I think but they are clear and straightforward. I know it's not what you want to be doing but it's part of the game and will make your end of year accounts so much easier.

My daughters teacher requires a block of six lessons to be paid a minimum of 48 hours before the first lesson. An email arrives the day after lesson five to remind me that the next six needs to be paid for. She is not just term time so blocks of six work well.
She also very strict about cancellations/substitution lessons. Cancellation for holiday need to be done a week in advance to get a different lesson late cancellation you loose the lesson. She has vet clear terms and conditions so we all know where we are.

Many book keeping / excel sheets link up a diary. So you could colour co-ordinate all your students. Lucy is green. Sally is pink. Then when sally pays 2 weeks later, but also paying 5 weeks ahead, it will colour code your next 5 sally Tuesday lessons as green, so you'll be able to see easily when she's paid up until?

Surely just settinf up an excel sheet with each persons name in a column, write the date of each lesson down each column, then highlight the cell with the date once paid?

So you would know instantly if a person is late, and if they pay enough for 10 lessons in advance, then you highlight 10 blank cells down the column, fill in the date each lesson and then give them a warning with the have 2 remaining.

If you keep on top of it it'll be easy to manage.

Lots of good examples of how to record above.
Before you sign up and pay for a course that may have lots of thing not relevant to you have a look on YouTube for some ideas.
I would fully expect to pay termly in advance for your services. Not sure if that's the norm or not though.

I definitely expect the teacher who invoices to keep track of lessons attended. I do check the invoice when it comes and occasionally query things, but if she wants to be paid, she needs to make it clear. Most other clubs are direct debit up front, which is easier but less flexible.

I agree with the PPs who say you should keep track of the payments yourself - I used to freelance and always assumed that was "part of working for yourself".
The few times I've bought services from independent people (cleaners, childcare, landlords etc) they had their preferences but were always open to changes if it meant they were more likely to get paid. This has set my expectations for any similar interactions going forward and I would expect it I guess!

I do appreciate that not everyone has the skills or excel knowledge to keep track, however it's quite easy to pick up and once you've done it once or twice it's second nature. There's a lot of online videos and courses, or excel templates that can help if you are new to it. There's also companies that can manage that for you, or the cheaper option of software.

Happy to make recommendations if you need, and good luck going forward!

I don't understand how you can run a business without keeping track of what lessons you're holding and whether you've been paid for them. How can you prepare your tax returns etc?
This is really basic book keeping.

Why not just ask them to set up a direct debit for X amount per week and if you have to cancel a lesson offer an alternative time.

And I think what boggles my brain ishowto write down in a spreadsheet Person A has paid X amount which is 2 weeks late at time of payment but covers an additional 5 weeks following date of payment" 🤯
Honestly this is so simple. Get yourself on a bookkeeping course. With Qucikfile you have an area for each client where all invoices and payments are allocated. Pre payments can be shown which will be credited against future invoices.
If you are using Excel just have a spreadsheet for each client listing invoices in one column and payments in another. It's just a case of making sure that the totals tally and reminding them if they owe you.
You could even go basic and have a manual card system with invoices and payments detailed in columns.

I pay one teacher on the day by bacs through app, if I forget he texts me to remind! Other teacher sends a monthly invoice. I don't know how they keep their records but I know they must have to spend a bit of time on it. I think you need to be a bit more strict. Good luck!

One way is to have a running account for each client. When they have a lesson, add on the cost of the lesson (new dated row). When they make a payment, deduct amount of payment (new dated row) . Total at the top (so you don't have to keep moving it) will be either amount owed to you (positive) or amount overpaid (negative).

Or you could have a table with a row for each client and a column per week to note down lessons, another table ditto to note down amounts paid.
Then a third table with Balance carried forward from previous term if any + cost of lessons- amounts paid = amount currently owed. I'd do it that way then you have two pieces of a4 you can stick to your fridge and update as you go till you feed it into the computer.

You could even colour code it so it shows up people who owe you in red alongside the name/number to send the chasing message to. Set aside an hour at the weekend to update everything and send any reminders.

Then for your paying ahead person you could either put it under the columns for future weeks, or put in larger amount under current week and zeros under the next 5 weeks to remind you not to expect anything.

Reminder: you don't have to accept paying ahead if you don't want to. One of our teachers refused payment even for ad hoc lessons DC had already attended as she hadn't invoiced it yet. You can also set your rules for missed lessons e.g. one of our teachers has refused to accept payment if we miss for any reason including last minute, though sure that would change if we were taking the piss! Another offers reschedule if possible otherwise max one missed lesson can be deferred to the next term if 1 week notice given.

I'm not a bookkeeper but I would hazard one line per lesson, record date it was invoiced for in one column (if applicable) and date paid for in another. Different tab for each pupil.

If you send invoices and record when they are paid it doesn't seem that complicated. I wonder if improving your invoices is the way forward.

wrt chasing - get a good template. that will take emotions out of if.
also be prepared to escalate non payments to small claims or termination of services.

I'm only a service user, not a teacher but my dc extra curricular activities operate either in
termly invoice - fixed amount of money for all the term's activities no matter if they are attended or not. if provider cannot run the activity is rescheduled or deducted from next term's invoice.
refunds strickly only in case dc can't continue due to long term illness/injury.

or

10er strip with a strict 48 hour booking/cancellation system.

I think you need to get better at keeping records!
You will have different clients over the years who will be good or bad at paying but you remain the same and you are the one providing the service and wanting to get paid!
Excel spreadsheet, apps mentioned above or something really simple like a folder with a piece of paper for each client that you fill in: date paid, value, no. of lessons that covers and dates of lessons. Fill it in daily.
Also half an hour a week dedicated to checking it's all up to date and chasing payments owed.
You just need to get organised.

"it's driving me up the wall."

It's your attitude that must change. All 3 examples you give are very easy to record and deal with.

The student who is paid up until January ? great. what's the problem here?

I do accounts. I adore doing accounts. Every single person who has ever asked me to help them with their accounts, I have. for free, as a friend, and set them up a number of Excel spreadsheets or xero or QuickBooks or whatever they need.

My closest friend teaches piano and flute. The other teaches maths.

and then they just keep track of it. and it's really easy.

but your mindset really does need to change here.

You either need to get a subscription system set up (similar to Scouting) that takes a payment before each lesson, or you need to invoice for each term in advance. You as the service provider need to take a strong lead in terms of keeping track of how pays what and who owes what. Is it sounds as though it has been a little ad hoc, making things unnecessarily complicated for everyone.
An on line system such as quick file should make things easier for you.

Book keeping is part of running your business. Keeping good accounts is very very easy. If you keep on top of it.

Decide what system works best for you and let your students/ parents know. Send invoices with clear instructions of when and how much to pay. People will appreciate clarity. It is a pain in the neck for everyone if it's not clear who owes what.

We've had some quite ad hoc arrangements. When I pay I just text the teacher saying how much and which dates the payment covers then we both know exactly what is what. If either of us cancel then one of us will send an updated text.

Or bill them termly/half termly as a default and give them the option, say this would be appreciated if possible but if not, you can offer monthly invoice in advance instead. If the main blocker is cancellations, you could commit to making up any lessons when you are unavailable, and/or take the money off the next bill.

However I hadn't appreciated that paying a lump in advance would be so annoying. It sounds like goodwill to me. People paying late, obviously that is v annoying. But don't do the Katherine Tate granny thing of pretending it's fine to their face.

What is the contract they sign up to? Have you thought about using an app that takes the payment more like direct debit? We have a couple where they send an invoice and you go through the app to pay it rather than using a bank transfer. It works well.

My 3 pay 7 instruments between them. We pay the piano teacher who comes to our house in cash weekly. The rest are lessons in school - 3 teachers there bill upfront termly (so 10-12 lessons) so we pay within a few days. The other school employs the music teachers (private school) and we pay at the start of a term for lessons the last term. I prefer paying in blocks of 10-12 for the term. As I am not there though in school I expect the teachers to keep track of how many lessons my kids have done. There is one teacher I do have to chase at the start of term and insist on paying upfront. She always says she is rubbish at invoices etc.