Ask Why do some clients push you to start without any deposit and then delay every invoice that follows?

[Edward22]

It starts with urgency. The client needs the work done quickly, so they ask you to begin before any payment is sorted out. Then once the work is delivered, the same urgency disappears and the invoice sits untouched for weeks. This pattern is common enough that most experienced freelancers have a story like this. It makes you wonder if the delay was always part of how they operate. Has this happened to you, and what did you do about it?