Yeah, that sucks. At least they're side jobs that you're not depending on for your regular income.

I think that if you do that sort of thing exclusively, you really have to work with people / companies that you can trust to keep up their end of the bargain, and have enough of them to keep you busy and keep the billing cycles in sync so that you always have money coming in. Ideally, you'd eventually be doing a lot of work for people you have an established good relationship with (in terms of paying), cutting off the ones that don't, and only taking on new customers infrequently and as time permits, mixing them in with more stable customers to keep your income steady.

That sucks Dan. So sorry to hear that. I was freelance for 10 years or so. With a wife and family it's tough to truly envision a complete freelance life. Especially in Ventura.

my dad has owned his own business forever and that was always the theme i heard...dont do work for these guys, they haven't paid us. etc etc