You are lending money, so behave like a lender

You are lending money, so behave like a lender
Every campaign you fund before you are paid is a loan extended to a partner, at no interest, with no collateral and no credit check. That framing changes decisions.
What lenders do that affiliates do not:
— Set a limit per counterparty. Decide the maximum you are willing to have outstanding with any one partner, and stop at it, however well the campaign is doing.
— Price the risk. A slower-paying partner has to be more profitable to earn the same slot, because your money is tied up longer.
— Watch the ageing. Sort everything owed to you by how old it is. Anything past terms gets attention immediately, not eventually.
— Diversify. One partner holding most of your receivables is a single point of failure for the entire business.
— Keep a buffer covering the longest realistic payment gap.
Growth without this is just increasing the size of a loan you cannot call in.
Profit is an opinion. Cash arriving is a fact.