It's very sad and unfortunate I have to write this but I am. My name is Ryan Tilford I'm small business owner here in south central Los Angeles that goes by LA DAIQ SHACK serving children, teens, and adults slushies in my community. I recently had the opportunity to provide my services to this community organization. In doing so I had a very bad experience with the community coalition pertaining to payment for my services. I'll be very honest and transparent for the mistakes I made in doing so, as I'm going to take responsibility for my actions. This was my very first event as what I consider on a more business corporate level as I've only done family events, quinceañeras, etc. upon accepting any event I require a deposit to secure the date for anyone's event and final payment the day of before I ever serve my first product to anyone along with the client receiving a receipt. This is where I take full responsibility as I figured an organization as big as this would have paid me in full the day of seeing that I didn't receive a deposit, but at the end of the event I didn't receive my payment. It took a couple of days the following week to receive my payment for my services. I charge an additional $75 an hour for my services if the client wants me to stay and serve more. This was indeed the case I not only stayed an hour more but I walked half a block to get more mix and cups to keep this event going that night. It took over 3 weeks to receive an additional $75 in which I had to contact the organization numerous times. I thank Antwon as he was the gentleman who drove to my residence to drop off my first check. The second check I had to get myself. Now I know the narrative will be spun that I'm "complaining" or "trippin'" over $75 I am not. It's the lack of professionalism and the fact I had to reach out numerous times when I felt the person who booked me should have been in contact with me communicating with me instead of me constantly calling them (community coalition) when people say they'll get back to me and they don't. what a lot of people fail to realize is we as small business owners are small for a reason. We're barely starting so purchasing products, inventory, gas, it gets expensive especially when you have your own personal bills etc. and clients have to take into account when it comes to things of this nature. I've never gotten paid late from anyone I've conducted business with until this one. This is the reason why I'm writing this. I hope the community coalition will do better in the future no bad feelings on my end I just had to express my frustration and accountability aspect of the situation take care God bless and I hope it gets better as I strive to be better and conduct business the best way I can to serve a great tasting product with wonderful customer service to the best of my ability. read more