If clients don't pay me, I have no money with which to pay my bills or rent and buy food. If I don't pay rent, I have no place to stay. If I have no food, I have no energy and therefore can't work at maximum efficiency/effectiveness. Surely, this is not a difficult concept to grasp, right? Yet, I keep having to explain this to my customers. This is why I insist on a deposit up front. I'm tired of getting burned by bad debtors. No dinero, no trabajo!
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I've come to the conclusion that there's no fairness nor honesty in business under Capitalism, which is both immoral and sad. Going forward, I have no choice but to ask for 50% deposits upfront for any jobs over $100 and full deposits upfront for any jobs $100 and under. I find this a distasteful way of doing business, but it will weed out anyone that doesn't respect me enough to pay first. The difficulty lies in accurately assessing the time any job will likely take and, therefore, the cost/price.
For the half upfront payments, I'll not hand over the work until I receive full payment. Clients will get screenshots or two week trial versions to convince them that I've done the work. On full payment, clients will receive license codes.
With us, it's normal to pay in advance unless you are a very reliable client for years. Not every one whose services/items you buy is reliable. A lot of scams. This means I go for reliable shops/people joining an official group plus insurance or a system that guarantees I get what I bought. It doesn't always work out but it's the only way to stay alive.