Swift Climax

I wasn’t ready for that…

Rarely in life do I see things as clearly as in my last post – Getting Ready – and then have an immediate followup…

Here on Timely Insights we post articles on Mondays … the answer came on Tuesday. And while I was ‘ready’ in the sense that I knew something was coming, I was still shocked at what it was.

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Business First

I’ve been a solopreneur for several years now and wrote about it a couple times in 2008 under Your Solopreneur Support System and Visualize and Do.

I’ve been fairly successful in finding appropriate work and collecting on my invoices.

Bad debt

In 2008 I had my first uncollected invoice – a 3 figure invoice for a client I had done 4 figures of work for in the past.  Not a big deal, and I easily moved on.

Earlier this year I had my first client renege on a 4 figure LinkedIn training gig.  Between the book, training and speaking I’ve made 5 figures with my LinkedIn work – it was painful, but I’ve also moved on.

Big client

And that’s why it was such a shocker to find out that my biggest consulting client is essentially going bankrupt. I can’t say that I know the particulars, but it’s reasonably clear that a) my services are no longer needed, and b) I’m not likely to see anything of my unpaid invoices.

5 figures worth.

Ouch.

Over the long term they were a good client.  I’ve billed and been paid most of what we’ve done together in the last 18 months – in the 6 figure range.  We’ve done some good work together.

Perhaps that was why I “saw” it coming, but didn’t see anything.

• They’d gotten quiet
• They were slipping on paying invoices
• They had laid off some of their employees

But I didn’t think it was that bad…

Even bigger

So my lesson for the week: Go Bigger!

If it takes a 4 figure customer to lose 3 figures, a 5 figure line of business to lose 4, and a 6 figure client to lose 5 figures, I want to lose 6 figures – and fast!

Because the one thing I have been able to do is shake it off – and roll into the next thing without worrying about the small portion that got away.

Now just where did I leave that lead…-)