For those of us who have succeeded in business we know that feeling of leaping out of bed and looking forward to the day. There is nothing like it, we are in control of our own destinies, passionate about what we do, but what happens when that passion is gone? Especially when you are still successful. Is there such a thing as “business burn out?” Yes, here are some ways to cope with it.
Hire Others to Run the Business
This is how MOST major corporations become MAJOR corporations. The owner cannot keep doing all the work himself or he or she WILL get burned out. I know it’s so incredibly hard to trust others to run your business but if you are not ready to or cannot sell this is a great option to free you up to do other things.
Sell the Business
If you are still having success with the business and you’re burnt out this is a GREAT time to sell. Think of who would benefit most by buying your business FIRST. KNOW THE BUSINESS‘ VALUE then approach those who you feel would benefit.
You Can Start ANOTHER Business or go Back to Work
I
f you did it once you can do it again. Some people choose to have the stability of a 9 to 5 again, you can do that too. Don’t let insecurity stop you from making a greater move.
Take a Much Needed Vacation
The fresh perspective will do you a world of good. I once sold my house and moved across country when I was burnt out. That was a HUGE mistake. I didn’t need to uproot, I needed an excursion to Europe for 30 days. Always and I mean ALWAYS take the vacation first and if you still feel the same way when you get back, it’s time to make some changes.
What Aspect of the Business is Bringing you Down?
Sometimes it’s not the business but certain part of it that tax us. For example, I hate collecting past due money and selling. Hire someone else to do what you hate doing or are not good at.
Signs that You’re Ready to Start Your Small Business
So you think you’re ready to start your small business? Here’s a few tips to help you along the way. These are EXCERPTS from “Why Your Business Won’t Grow” a forthcoming How to book for minority entrepreneurs by Kevin Ross
I’ve been in business now for 17 years. I’ve been very lucky because it’s been estimated that up to 85% of new businesses fail within the first four years or less. Some studies state as high as 60% of new businesses fail within the first year. During the past two decades, I have seen many examples of why small businesses fail and I’d like to share those with you if you have considered diving in and trying your small business. Here are the things that you should ABSOLUTELY NOT DO if you don’t want to fail IMMEDIATELY.
Unbridled PASSION for What you Do
Start Your Small Business: Have you ever been in love? REAL LOVE? The kind that makes you forget the rest of the world exists and EVERYTHING is about the other person? You can talk on the phone for hours to them but it seems like minutes? You leap out of bed ready to take on the day with a huge smile on your face because you’re experiencing true happiness? Unfortunately, for most, this feeling is temporary but not if you small your small business. Why? Because business is the SAME WAY! “Do what you LOVE and the money will Come” is exact and true. What is it that you LOVE to do, that you could do ALL DAY, that when you are doing it, it feels like you are not working? There’s your potential business!
You Have a Budget
Start Your Small Business: I would STRONGLY suggest not taking out loans if you don’t have to for two reasons. I don’t like dealing with middlemen, they can rob you of your passion and it’s always best to start off NOT owing someone. It ALWAYS helps if you have money stashed to start your small business because you start off is the same way you do business and the way you end it. If you start of begging, your entire business will most likely be based on you begging. If you have to beg people to convince them of your value, you are in the wrong business. They should SEE the value.
You Have Vision…
Start Your Small Business: I am surrounded by other entrepreneurs or people who are on their way to being entrepreneurs. We attract each other and most of my closest friends are entrepreneurs. I had a friend who loved to experiment with cheesecakes. He worked for the gas company for his full timegig but he would do things like make Peach Cobbler Cheesecake, German Chocolate Cheesecake, Cheesecake Pound Cake, Oatmeal Raisin Cheesecake and even Sweet Potato Cheesecake. People would go NUTS over those Cheesecakes and he started taking them to work and his coworkers would offer him up to $30.00 to make them ONE of his Cheesecakes. Before he knew it, he had to rent a kitchen and he was making at least 50 Cheesecakes a weekend as word spread. He LOVED doing it and he became a different person while he was doing it. He wasn’t bound by the work grind and the stress he had to often face working with broken gas lines in the field. Who could be passionate about that? To make a long story short, he was not comfortable with the lack of security he felt he would have without a full time job. I along with several other entrepreneur friends tried to convince him that he could triple and even quadruple his current income and have continued growth over the next 5 years that would make him incredibly successful but he did not have VISION. He is letting the opportunity pass him by.
Are you ORIGINAL?
Start Your Small Business: Doing what someone else does because you have the same contacts or you see that they are making money may work for a while but if you are not churning out the same quality product that they can you will eventually fail. If your business is based on mimicking what someone else does, it’s NOT time to start your small business, it’s time to either do a better job or think of something else. The greatest part of being an entrepreneur is the passion that you AND ONLY YOU have for what you do.
Do People Keep Coming Back?
Start Your Small Business: One of the GREATEST signs that you are able to start your small business is if whatever it is that you do has the same clients coming back for more WITHOUT you calling them. Your clients are the best friends to your business. If you have been in business for more than 3 years and you don’t have at LEAST one or two MAJORclients, something is wrong. Prospects are not seeing the value of what it is that you do.
I’ve seen people who will stay in a small business like a bad marriage. The signs of divorce are clear years before but many business owners are determined to make what is clearly failing work, even when the odds are completely against them. It’s as if they are playing the lottery putting up their last money for a magical turn-a-round that will put them back on track but in actuality, they are digging themselves deeper into a hole. Here are some signs your business may very well be in trouble. —————————–
You No Longer Enjoy The business/Loss of Passion
Remember the days in the beginning of the business when you leaped out of bed with a smile on your face ready to take on the day. You may not have been making money at the time but you were driven by your desire because you saw a need and/or you had a passion and you were fulfilling it. There is a reason the old saying “Do what you love and the money will come” rings so true. It’s not an idea or a need to fill a hole that is the driving force for a small business, it’s the PASSION to do it that drives it. If a person who has a bakery only made cakes because there was no bakery withing 5 miles, they would probably be in business for about a year unless they are fortunate enough to find someone whoLOVES baking cakes and even then, the owner’s lack of passion for what the company does will eventually reflect how the employees feel so the bakery is still setting itself up for failure.
If you are not rolling out of bed eager to take on the day, full of joy and hope and passion like you once were, this is the first and a MAJOR sign it’s time to seriously think about selling the business or doing something else. Your lack of drive and desire will start to affect the company from the top to the bottom including sales because you can’t convincingly sell a product that you yourself don’t believe in anymore.
—————————–Your Industry Has Changed but you have not
Unfortunately, businesses, consumers and demands change all the time. It would be great if this were not the case but it happens. Most vets in certain areas of business are very set in their ways and refuse to change with the business tide. it’s not because they are stubborn, many times it’s because they feel inadequate, too old to learn the new industry or they fear being obsolete so they are stubborn. If you refuse to change, your service becomes antiquated and your customers will start looking, if they even HAVE to look, for someone who can adapt to the current trends. Competition is fierce and other black entrepreneurs, who may have better resources, are always watching our progress (or regress). We’d like to think our current customers will be loyal but they also have to follow trends and if your company is behind the times, there is a great chance that you will lose money and eventually the business. If you run a record store in 2012, for example, you better be offering something totally unique in your market and beyond that drives the hardcore vinyl consumer to purchase from you amongst other things. Most record stores are out of business today but there are some that still thrive because of what they offer. Amoeba Music in Los Angeles, Berkley and San Francisco is a great example. They thrive because they buy records from customers for pennies on the dollar than sell them for much more. Many of the records from even 50 years ago are still in the rappers because many former music industry people still live in Los Angeles and surrounding areas and they had an abundance of product that they kept stored for decades and now they want to get rid of it. Amoeba sells product online as well, something many record store franchises refused to do which is why they are out of business, but Amoeba also has auctions of music memorabilia, in store performances and they sell used music as well as videos. Amoeba is a FULL SERVICE record store that also employes hardcore music lovers and the store in Los Angeles is almost always packed. How is it that this record store can stay alive and prosper when all the rest have died? They knew the industry was changing, they did their research and they are passionate about what they do.
—————————–You Don’t Trust Anyone to Help you Build the business
This is a VERY difficult one, even for me because we all know that nobody is going to be more passionate about your brand and business than you are and we have all been through it, we train someone which takes a great amount of time out of our day who is on probation and they almost always doesn’t work out. it’s enough to do our OWN jobs but now we have to train, guide and PAY someone else to do what we do and THEY MAY NOTWORK OUT! Who in the hell has the time for that, we have a business to run. However, we must consider that if we do it all by ourselves all the time, we will NEVER grow, we will become increasingly frustrated and the business will ultimately suffer. Sorry to inform you that you HAVE to trust SOMEONE unless you plan on killing yourself doing all things all the time, every time or never moving beyond a certain low financial point, never seeing your true potential. We are right in knowing that everyone can’t be trusted but we must also realize we can’t do everything by ourselves..
—————————–Not Paying Enough Attention to What is Going on in our businesses
Believe it or not, there are some business owners who are the total opposite of what I have described above. They depend TOO MUCH on other people to run their businesses while they are constantly on vacation, getting their hair done, playing golf or working on other projects. They don’t have proper management in place and it’s easy for clients and potential clients to see the owner is not present which is a horrific reflection on the reputation of the business. We have to create balance and make sure the employees know what is expected of them and they should never know our schedule as to when we will and will not be there. These are people that you pay and who represent you and in this instance you are offering TOO much trust.
—————————–Spending Lavishly
This is obvious. Any black entrepreneur will tell you that running a small business especially in the first 5 years is feast of famine. You may have a great first quarter but the second quarter may be dismal and if you don’t have savings to make up for the lack of business, you will stress yourself out unnecessarily. That’s why people go on vacations once or twice or three times a year, NOT every month. In addition, once you consider what you may be paying on interest for that new luxury car it may behoove you to see what it would cost you to buy it in cash or used from a private owner who is experiencing financial difficulties because he or she, I don’t know, SPENTMONEY THEY DIDN‘T HAVE? You can also get a car for damn near 1/3 the price at an auction or you can save a lot of money by buying it from a credit union. Those thousands of dollars would serve you much better in your bank account than going to the car dealer who is charging you a ridiculours interest rate because you have a small business. We can have those luxuries AND have backup funding which is ALWAYS needed if we must spend WISELY instead of LAVISHLY…—————————–
Your own Greed
Without question, it takes money to make money and if you are not willing to spend money and you are always trying to get a break from everyone else you will run in circles. I have a friend, another black entrepreneur, who wants to damn near be paid for EVERYTHING that he does and he wants a premium price. Yet when it comes to him needing the services of other black entrepreneurs, he wants 95% off. He is so greedy that he refuses to hire anyone to work for him if they require a paycheck, he wants them to work for him for free so he hires interns only… then he complains about them not being dependable. For the past 10 years he has failed to grow and he continues to struggle not understanding why he can’t get ahead. How can you demand top dollar from others when you need them and expect them to work for you for almost free? Sounds insane but it exists.
—————————–Fear
The economy has many black entrepreneurs concerned about walking away from their situations especially if they are making money doing it. I saw a good friend ran through $125,000 trying to save his business when it was not only dead, but he had absolutely no interest in maintaining it. He was making money but it was only a matter of time before it all came crashing down. He didn’t use the money to hire people, he used it to ignore the business by buying real estate property without doing his homework and to try to occupy him mind. Of course the real estate market went bust and he lost everything… Which leads me to the next subject…
—————————–
Entrepreneur Depression
Not typical depression, but depressed about the industry that you work in, the economy of the industry you work in or even feeling like your business is no longer relevant. Entrepreneur Depression has the same symptoms as other depressions except when you are the captain of the ship your depression can destroy the entire business if you don’t get a grip on what’s taking place.
Fellow Entrepreneurs..Remember the days that you rolled out of bed ready to take on the new business day with glee and excitement? Do you STILL feel that way about your Small business? If’ you’ve been doing it for a number of years… probably not. Reason? Well, they don’t call it the 7 Year Itch for nothing. It does apply to relationships but relationships of all kinds, including the one that you have with your business and you might very well be tempted to have an “affair” with a whole new business.
I read about an Entrepreneur who lived in New York and ran a bakery for 10 years. He made a lot of money but after 7 years he was burnt out and lost his joy to do it. He didn’t contemplate and make excuses forever but he held on for an additional 3 years and mapped out his plan. He and his wife sold the business at 10 years then they moved to California’s Wine Country in Temecula Valley and opened an Art Gallery? Seems strange at first but they have events that they tie in with the wineries at their gallery. Something TOTALLY different than they were doing before and they are still very successful and they love it. Not because they picked a new business that would be successful but just the opposite…because they already KNOW how to run a successful business!!!
If any of the following apply to you, my friends it’s time to look at starting a new business.
You don’t wake up with the same joy or anticipation you once had and it has become a “job”
The industry that you work in has changed because of the economy and you are struggling to make ends meet
You now have way to much competition and you the client base has gotten smaller
You are bored with the business
You’re not making the money that you once did but you keep doing it because it’s “paying the bills.”
You are no longer interested in the field of your business.
It has become draining
You are constantly working and you feel it. (When you have a business that you “love” it doesn’t seem like you are “working”)
You just want to make a change
Well, it’s time to stop complaining and do a spreadsheet with what you would REALLY like to do in your new business. Whether it’s connected to what you are doing now or something totally different, you can do it. So start planning and stop complaining.
Not Closing the Sale? There are times that you are not going to be able to do it. Let it be a teachable moment
I have several competitors who bombard my clients when I post any ad on my site https://biztipper.com. It kind of irritates me because I work so hard to foster those relationships and think it’s unfair to my clients especially when the competitors try to sell their sites by putting mines down (and it gets back to me and that tactic is tacky and rarely works). There is one site, in particular, that is often very successful at manipulating my clients into supporting them too… hey if it works then so be it. The problem is when I call many of their clients from different formats outside of Urban radio I almost always get rejected.
It’s one thing to reject a proposal but it’s insulting to make a person jump through hoops to get to no. Clients KNOW up front if there is a possibility that they will support you but they also KNOW when they are NOT going to support you. Don’t be politically correct, just be HONEST (lol). It would save us both time and money. In all honestly.. I’d rather have a potential client tell me to “Fuck off and don’t ever call me again” than to have me waste my time sending in proposals, making endless calls and sending emails to follow up. Be careful of what you wish for because I have actually HAD potential clients tell me never call back again (lol) but for the most part… my clients have been great to me. Here are some tips to help you know that you are wasting your time.
Potential Client asks for proposal (RFP)
This is not a sign that you are wasting your time but I have done great RFPs and I have been rejected and my ideas were stolen and given to my competition (I’m talking non-minority competitors). At one time this practice literally made me sick to my stomach when I realized that there are many marketing companies that don’t have a CLUE how to market to minorities and they use anything they can to learn… including the unscrupulous practice of stealing information from proposals. NEVER and I mean NEVER include too much info in your RFP. Be vague about particular places, names, and events but focus more on how you can deliver and numbers. I have a saying, “if you give away the recipe the restaurant will close” that applies here. Realize your information could be stolen and manipulated so keep your sources and major information private. There is a 50/50 chance that your RFP will be accepted or rejected. This is not an easy task but if it works out, it can be lucrative and if the marketing company is not biased (which is VERY rare) it may open a door for a long relationship.
Never Get Excited about a Potential Client
The more excited you get the harder you fall if it doesn’t work out. In addition, I am a firm believer in giving all that you have to give then letting it go when it comes to attracting a client. I usually get them 99% of the time when I forget about them and don’t focus on them.
Follow up with people who call you about to support your business
This is not easy because the results are often futile. Often people that call you and who show an interest in supporting your business are not ready. There was a time that I looked at it as a waste of time. Now, I make a mental or a short note in my Thunderbird (an excellent email program with a calendar) to call them a week later. It is rare that these situations ever work out but there is a one in a million chance that 1 does.
Aim high and have NERVE!
I have found that dealing with corporations is 99% done when the contact calls you and you NEVER know what they are looking for. If you are a minority business I pray that they will not refer you to the “Lion’s Den” which is what I like to call biased Marketing Companies but if they do just realize it’s not easy to sell to them and if they don’t like you they can call the corporation and reject you in an instant. Hopefully, you will be able to deal directly with the Corporation and they have a budget in place and they are ready to support your venture. Dealing with independents or smaller clients is a LOT of work and it only comes to fruition about 15% of the time but the money is up front (even though it’s often at a discount)
Don’t Pursue those who Run from you constantly.
As a rule, make 3 calls and send 2 emails at the most. If the person does not respond, make sure they are aware of what you are doing but put them on hold till next year. They may shock you and call you (which is rare)… but realize some people usually support people they like… as unfortunate and unfair as that may seem it’s a fact. So you need to locate those who “Like” you and leave the ones who don’t like you alone. The more you try to get their business the more you suffer and start to question the value of what you do. As an old boss once told me, “Love those who love you and leave the rest alone.”
If my ideas or suggestions help you. Please subscribe and make a small donation (Just $5.00 a month by clicking the PayPal tab to the right). I want you to do it so that you can tell me how donating to someone else REALLY DOES help YOU! Kevin
I was once told by a client… “Most people do business with you because they like you.” While that doesn’t say much about the product, what he said certainly does have merit. After all, there are also people who DON’T do business with you, sans a great product, because they DON’T like you. There are some people who are put in charge of a department and they use that job to get back at, let’s say, the black kids who teased them in high school or they have something against women because of their mother or being rejected by the love of their life OR they may be all about supporting people from their college fraternity…who knows.
Sometimes we have a tendency to prove the potential client’s theory about us wrong but we are not Licensed Clinical Therapists. For the most part, as business owners, we are in touch with our intuition and we know when someone is probably not going to support our business… unfortunately, we also like a challenge and this whole process can be such a waste of time and it drives our business esteem in a negative direction. The effect can be long lasting and it doesn’t have to be.
There have been times that I was was left scratching my head when I saw competitors with far less of an effective product getting advertising that I just could not seem to —————————–get. There was one client I was so determined to get that I actually stayed on them for 5 years (laugh). Let’s be realistic folks, that was just foolish. I could have done so much more with that energy. If someone does not support you within their next budget cycle (maybe 2) chances are they are NOT going to support you. It all depends on how they respond to you whether or not you should continue to pursue them. Do they call YOU out of the blue? Do they email YOU out of the blue? Do they respond to your emails or phone calls? These are all signs that you can use to determine if the process is worth it. By the way, this particular client (5 Years) got an earful from me when I finally let them have it. What did I have to lose? I wasn’t curt.. but I was honest. Some people will tell you never do that, I say after a certain time… do it, here’s why… Your potential client may not be intentional, they may just be uninformed, in addition, you may learn something valuable.
Turned out the potential client told me he had been getting surveys from a competitor of mines on the most popular industry magazines and mines was never included. I thought things were great between me and this competitor and it appeared we were on good terms. We talked on the phone from time to time and talked about the ins and outs of business (this is another post I will talk about soon). Imagine my shock when I asked him why he thought that a competitor would support what I was doing and why didn’t he investigate this HIMSELF? Then I had to ask him why he would depend on one magazine to determine who he should advertise with across the board? He was dumbfounded. Let me give you a few more details. The company was an equipment company that was not used to being approached by an African American business.
The music industry, while great, has some mean lanes and people generally stay in theirs but I have never subscribed to that. That’s not to say it’s not a major problem in the industry… it is.. but I was able to have a different conversation with this client and while I still don’t have his business, we have a better understanding of each other and I got valuable information about my competition. Needless to say, my phone calls with the competitor were much shorter from that point on and I never approached him about it, I mean, for what? so he could deny it? That potential client has absolutely no reason to lie about that survey. The client was an older white guy and he was subscribing to the 70s, 80s and 90s mentally of the industry or “The Good Ole Boy’s Club” which in today’s internet savvy industry is just foolish. The great thing about the internet and having a business on it is that race or not liking someone has a much more minor role because advertisers are looking for “eyeballs” and the consolidation of corporations over the last decade in general has taken a lot of the “game” out of advertising and marketing. This is why some of the biggest magazines and newspapers are dying off. Everything has not only become results-driven, the person buying the ads has to justify the expenditure to the corporation now. So flawed research, while not dead, has fallen ill at best.
To that end, what I am saying is, the time that you spend trying to win a client over who is an incredible long shot could better serve you by let’s say, approaching a client who DOESN’T advertise with your competitors.
Let’s face it, we’re all thrilled to get new business and we try our best to satisfy our customers. After we finish giving them what they want, now we have to “beg” for what we deserve? (lol). Today, I am looking at 5 invoices that are 6 weeks or more past due. Don’t get me wrong, I love my clients but it is hard as hell to collect. As many of you know, in the black entrepreneur game this is not uncommon.
One must wonder, do people in Accounts Payable or Vendors think we have so much money that we can afford to wait as long as possible to be paid? As we all know mortgage companies, landlords and utility company bills come ON TIME each month and they expect you to pay them. So truth be told NO, WE CAN’T WAIT. When invoices are not paid it kicks off a myriad of phone calls to those we owe money to and it seems the more we try to postphone, the more you need the money…that you have earned. I’m sure you know what I mean.
What vendors fail to realize is the checks that we get from them is no different than the checks they collect every 2 weeks like clockwork. Have you ever wondered how they would feel if they looked at their bank statement and discovered the company has not paid them? Then when they go to accounting they are told “We handed your time sheet in, it should be taken care of next week” then next week comes and they are still not paid and they go to accounting again and the woman behind the desk is irritated… now their job is at risk and they have to walk on eggshells and at the same time figure out a way to rob Peter to pay Paul until they finally get their check… this is the EXACT way it is for black entrepreneurs. As one friend pointed out, we have done the work… now pay us.
There is no reason that we should have to explain our financial situation to our clients when all we are asking is to be paid for services rendered. Comments?
Get Paid Faster from Clients? When a client takes their time paying a small business, it creates enormous stress on the business owner who is probably already behind.
Get Paid Faster. Asking for money from slow-paying clients can be tricky. We want them to keep doing business with us but we also want to pay our bills.
We can all trade war stories on how hard it is to get paid by clients and how frustrated it makes us. I certainly understand. I also know that we, sometimes, are a part of the problem as well. Here are some tips for avoiding late pay so that you can get paid faster.
1. Set up auto payments directly to your bank account.
If it’s a major corporation, you can literally get paid faster by five times by connecting your bank account to their payment system. Ask the client if they can connect you with the proper department to set up. This usually involves filling out a couple of forms.
2. Send an invoice to the client AND the assistant.
You need to befriend the assistant but the invoice that you send to the assistant will probably have better legs than the one that you send to the contact which will probably gather dust on the desk. Get paid faster by IMMEDIATELY sending the invoice once the order is placed and VERIFY they got it.
Some clients will tell you ”Send me the invoice NOW” and we often ignore the request because we want to start working on the project or something else. Truth be told, we should adhere to their request. This means they are ready to sign it. They are telling us that because it is foremost in their minds at the time and they are ready to submit it. Once a couple of hours pass they get bombarded with other stuff.
3. Become friendly with the assistant
They take a lot of crap all day. Treat them like they are important and even send them an occasional gift (Starbucks card, Barnes and Noble card, etc). The assistant is directly connected to your contact and serves as a great backup when you don’t want to bombard your client with calls about your past-due invoices.
4. Follow up with the Accounts Payable Department the next week!
Most of us wait for 30 days or after a couple of weeks just to be told: “We have not gotten the invoice.” As you all know this is so frustrating but when you think about it, it could have been avoided if you had followed up the first week to make sure it had been handed over to Accounts Payable to get paid faster.
5. Don’t be intimidated to call the client when too much time has passed
This is often very hard, you don’t want to bug them because you want repeat business…however, you have to have faith in your abilities and realize you will get more clients but you MUST respect your business and get paid faster to run it. Your client gets paid like clockwork every 2 weeks so asking you to wait longer is already an inconvenience. More than 30 days warrants a call. You can make it matter of fact but be firm and friendly at the same time. Don”t tell them your personal business or that you are desperate, that’s none of their business.
6. Offer a discount if they can pay in advance…
Look at it like this, would you rather be paid less now or the full amount much later when all your bill collectors have added fees to your past balances and you are borrowing money from family members and friends to buy groceries and you are totally stressed out? If you get LESS> pay NOW you also have the time, energy, and motivation to move on and to garner new business stress-free!
7. Don’t Turn Away business!
Look at it like this, there are some people who can’t afford to pay your premium prices…but do you still have bills to pay? An att0rney friend of mines gave me the worst advice once. He told me to set my price and never waiver. I did for the first half of this year and I can’t tell you how many thousands of dollars I lost because I turned down independent companies etc.
Truth be told, in this economy, that extra money can go a LONG way when things get tight and your major clients are taking too long to pay you. Also, the extra money can really add up to an interest-bearing ING account, groceries, bills, insurance, gas… etc. The ADDED benefit of these smaller accounts is you can ask to be paid UPFRONT as part of the discount.
NEVER give credit to a company (small or independent) that you have never worked with. Also, get a PayPal account and a debit card with it. I can’t tell you how much I LOVE PayPal. Let me add.. don’t let independent clients take advantage of you either. That’s another coming story.
8. Don’t be afraid to solicit new business…and have a “Sale”
It really works, when your money is tight and you are having a hard time collecting.. why not offer 1/3 off or specials for new clients (no more than that) … retailers do it ALL THE TIME from Walmart to Saks, EVERYBODY has a sale when things are slow. Why not you? Make sure you make it with a time limit like for the month of June or “For the next two weeks.”
Also, make the potential client feel special. I learned a long time ago there is no need to announce it to my entire database… just follow up with those people who have expressed an interest in the past. In addition, the smaller clients want to feel special too. If everyone knows what they paid… you get the picture.
How many times have you driven yourself insane for a late-paying client and the check comes as soon as you stop thinking about it?
The stress of maintaining a business and collections for a black entrepreneur can be EXTREMELY overwhelming. Ironically, all of my friends are also black entrepreneurs. I didn’t intentionally seek them out we came across each other. We all agree that running your own business is a never-ending hustle… but you HAVE to give yourself a break and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Get a massage, have a day where you treat yourself to a nice restaurant for lunch or dinner, play golf, go swimming do something that will take you out of the stress for a minute and when you come back you will feel invigorated and ready to get back into the grind. Shit, take a NAP if you have to that works too.
10. Stop Complaining…
Have you ever given any thought to the fact that EVERYONE is a potential new client in some shape, form or fashion? They may not be related in any way to your clients but they may KNOW someone who is. Moaning and groaning will not get you ANYWHERE but more stressed out. It’s OK to talk to other Entrepreneurs but CERTAINLY not clients about your business problems.
We can all trade war stories on how hard it is to get paid from clients and how frustrated it makes us. I certainly understand. I also know that we, sometimes, are a part of the problem as well. Here are some tips in avoiding late pays. Click NEXT for the next idea
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1. Send an invoice to the client AND the assistant.
This should actually be number 2. You need to befriend the assistant but the invoice that you send to the assistant will probably have better legs than the one that you send to the contact which will probably gather dust on the desk.
2. Become friendly with the assistant
Treat them like they are important and even send them an occasional gift (Starbucks card, Barnes and Noble card etc). The assistant takes a lot of shit but is directly connected to your contact and serves as a great backup when you don’t want to bombard your client with calls about your past due invoices.
3. IMMEDIATELY send the invoice once the order is placed!
Some clients will tell you”Send me the invoice NOW” and we often ignore the request because we want to start working on the project. Truth be told, we should adhere to their request. They are telling us that because it is foremost in their minds at the time and they are ready to submit it. Once a couple of hours pass they get bombarded with other stuff.
4. Follow up with the Accounts Payable Department the next week!
Most of us wait for 30 days or after a couple of weeks just to be told “We have not gotten the invoice.” As you all know this is so frustrating but when you think about it, it could have been avoided if you had followed up the first week to make sure it had been handed over to Accounts Payable.
5. Don’t be intimidated to call the client when too much time has passed
This is often very hard, you don’t want to bug them because you want repeat business…however, you have to have faith in your abilities and realize you will get more clients but you MUST respect your business. Your client gets paid like clockwork every 2 weeks so asking you to wait longer is already an inconvenience. More than 30 days warrants a call. You can make it matter of fact but be firm and friendly at the same time. Don”t tell them your personal business or that you are desperate, that’s none of their business.
6. Offer a discount if they can pay in advance…
Look at it like this, would you rather be paid less now or the full amount much later when all your bill collectors have added fees to your past due balances and you are borrowing money from family members and friends to buy groceries and you are totally stressed out? If you get LESS> pay NOW you also have the time, energy and motivation to move on and to garner new business stress free!
7. Don’t Turn Away Business!
Look at it like this, there are some people who can’t afford to pay your premium prices…but do you still have bills to pay? An att0rney friend of mines gave me the worst advice once. He told me to set my price and never waiver. I did for the first half of this year and I can’t tell you how many thousands of dollars I lost because I turned down independent companies etc. Truth be told, in this economy, that extra money can go a LONG way when things get tight and your major clients are taking too long to pay you. Also, the extra money can really add up in an interest bearing ING account, groceries, bills, insurance, gas… etc. The ADDED benefit of these smaller accounts is you can ask to be paid UPFRONT as part of the discount. NEVER give credit to a company (small or independent) that you have never worked with. Also, get a PayPal account and a debit card with it. I can’t tell you how much I LOVE PayPal. Let me add.. don’t let independent clients take advantage of you either. That’s another coming story.
8. Don’t be afraid to solicit new business…and have a “Sale”
It really works, when your money is tight and you are having a hard time collecting.. why not offer 1/3 off or specials for new clients (no more than that) … retailers do it ALL THE TIME from Wal-mart to Saks, EVERYBODY has a sale when things are slow. Why not you? Make sure you make it with a time limit like for the month of June or “For the next two weeks.” Also, make the potential client feel special. I learned a long time ago there is no need to announce it to my entire database… just follow up with those people who have expressed an interest in the past. In addition, the smaller clients want to feel special too. If everyone knows what they paid… you get the picture.
9. Pull Away Sometimes..
The stress of maintaining a business and collections for an entrepreneur can be EXTREMELY overwhelming. Ironically, all of my friends are also entrepreneurs. I didn’t intentionally seek them out we came across each other. We all agree that running your own business is a never-ending hustle… but you HAVE to give yourself a break and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Get a massage, have a day where you treat yourself to a nice restaurant for lunch or dinner, play golf, go swimming do something that will take you out of the stress for a minute and when you come back you will feel invigorated and ready to get back into the grind. Shit, take a NAP if you have to that works too.
10. Stop Complaining…
Have you ever given any thought to the fact that EVERYONE is a potential new client in some shape, form or fashion. They may not be related in any way to your clients but they may KNOW someone who is. Moaning and groaning will not get you ANYWHERE but more stressed out. It’s OK to talk to other Entrepreneurs but CERTAINLY not clients about your business problems.
In business, there are the clients we love and the ones we’d rather not deal with. Once you have been doing business for a while, you start to develop a 6th sense when it comes to prospects. In my business, the music industry, after so many years of doing this, there are certain people, I know to avoid right away. I want to share this information with you…
1. The Waiver Client
This is the client that wants you to jump through hoops, send them all you data and even ask you for propriety information before they spend their money to support you. NEVER give ANYONE your database. That’s the key to your business and if they have it, why do they need you? The clients that want you to PROVE yourself, especially after you are already established, are on some type of power hunt themselves. They don’t have money or they can’t afford your services but if they can make you feel the least bit inadequate or brag about “having you on their team” it apparently makes them feel better about their inabilities. They are not prepared to do business and they want everything for nothing and they will simply waste your time. It’s certainly OK to send the basic information but keep in mind they came to you for a reason. Someone told them about you or they have seen something themselves that let’s they know that you can help them. If you went to them… well you may have to deal with this situation butthere is a 25% chance they will actually do business with you. I call them the “Waivering” client because they often disappear and pop up a few months later with the same bullshit and no business for you.
2. The “Work For Free” Client
This is the client that invites you to attend their events or their business and they want to meet you at Starbucks with his or her business partners to basically… pick your brain. Hey, if you are not going to pay me to use my services then at least pay me a consultant fee… right? They have no intention of financially supporting you but dangling the carrot will, in their minds, get them the answers they can’t seem to get from more savvy, less desperate business people. I’m not knocking it, I’ve been there myself… I’m just being honest. What we think we are hiding is often BLATANTLY apparent and obvious and sometimes we ignore our instinct on these types because we need the business. Truth be told they are desperate too because they need the information. We will often give TOO much information and then we are left in the cold and they have just gotten a free education. First of all, if a client wants to pick your brain and they want you to meet them at Starbucks they are cheap. If you ever listen in to some of the business meetings or interviews that take place at Starbucks, they are often futile and ego-driven by one of the people. This is not to say some of the meetings are not successful but let’s be realistic, if a client offered to take you to Starbucks and another offers to take you to dinner.. which one do YOU think is more serious?
3. “Hook me up, Give me a Discount on the Discount(ers)
The danger of offering a discount is there are some people who want to take further advantage of the offer. They think “Hey, if I can get it for 50% off why not 80% off. Truth be told, when we offer discounts we are often, let’s just say… “needy” but when someone tries to rip you off, you have to set your own boundaries. I have “friends” who I only hear from when they want me to run press releases on my popular industry blog (www.allradionews.com) for free. The problem is most of the time the Press Releases are on washed up artists who have no relevance in today’s industry or it’s something totally unrelated. Truth be told, my “friends” who ask me to do this will get paid for me to run it but I’m hit twice below the belt. #1 my readers are wondering why I’m running something irrelevant and unrelated and the “flow” of the blog is interrupted… #2. I’m NOT getting paid to do it. These people totally ignore how hard you work to establish your business as their concerns are only for themselves and paying their rent… that’s fine.. question is… who is going to pay yours? I don’t reply to those requests anymore but if it’s something that you feel may help get your business rise to the next level by all means do it… JUST KNOW they will KEEP coming back for discounts or FREE work and once you give it to them, they will never see the true value in what you do.
4. I Purchased one thing, Now Give me Something Else for Free(ers)
Can you tell your landlord or mortgage company, “I paid the mortgage in March, now give me April for free?” HELLNO, they will laugh in your face. Clients must pay for all services rendered. FREE is non existent. NEVER and I mean NEVER give anything for free UNLESS it’s a major client and you give them one thing free per quarter, year etc.
5. “Let me use your services for free and see how it works then I will make my decision(ers)”
This should literally be a CRIME and if you are STUPID enough to do it YOU should be arrested. I am willing to guarantee you that even if they get a TON of business after you do it for them for free they will STILL either going to ask for more free time or tell you it didn’t work.
In all these situations there is simply one thing that you can say to SHUT THEM DOWN. Here is a million dollar piece of advice for FREE… Ask them during the FIRST conversation….”Do you have available budget…NOW?” Most of the people above will be taken aback by the question and say things like “I’m waiting on an approval” or “I’m getting my team together” or “I’m writing a proposal to get funding.” That’s your cue to tell them… “Well, give me a call back when you have budget available and let’s talk then. Have a nice day! There is NOTHING wrong with that. Don’t waste your time dealing with these types and always value what you do.
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