Lessons of a Small Business Owner

As a small business owner I am constantly evolving along with my business. While I love being my own boss I am constantly striving to better myself in my business. I don’t have a “boss” to give me a review or determine whether or not I deserve a raise. I get to be own boss, which by the way I love. However, this requires me at times to ask myself some tough questions and by asking them I have to be willing to answer them honestly.

Recently a relationship with one of my contractors has soured. This particular contractor owes me money and has for over a year now. I had always let it slip by because my relationship with the contractor was more than just business but not quite that of a friend. Finally, my assistant put her foot down and insisted that I/she collect the money. Well the contractor went ballistic. She was incredibly rude and belligerent on the phone with my assistant. When I spoke with her she tried to pull out the friendship card and then she started to cry. Needless to say it was a very uncomfortable conversation. While I tried hard to be respectful it was tough. I know that economically people are struggling all over but business is business. I felt like I had been really lenient for a long time.

Unfortunately, this situation has caused my company to cut ties with this particular contractor. It is unfortunate for her because she is going to be missing out on some great qualified leads for her business. However, I had to make a decision based on the picture as a whole, the end result being that she has broken her contract and thus her word. Ethically, I can’t refer someone like that.

This whole situation forced me to reexamine the how and why of what happened. I thought it was important to look not just out the outcome of the situation but to dig deeper and look at the root of the problem. If I didn’t fix the root, the same problem would crop up again and again. It may be disguised a little bit here and there but the underlying theme would be the same.

Here are a few of the lessons I learned:

Don’t mix business with pleasure. This is not always easy for me because I am a pretty outgoing person. I genuinely care about my contractors and what is going on in their lives. I work really hard marketing for them and giving them great qualified leads. It is important with my business to know a lot about my contractors so I can match them up with homeowners. However, there is definitely a line not to be crossed. Once that business relationship becomes more of a friendship it becomes a hard bell to unring. I learned it is possible for me to be friendly and businesslike at the same time.

Invoice right away. The minute the job is completed to the homeowners’ satisfaction the invoice goes out.

Follow up every month. I usually do this but in the case of the contractor I was speaking of earlier I had let it slide. She had always paid in a timely matter before and at first I wasn’t that concerned. The longer it went on the more uncomfortable I became because I had let it go for so long.

Keep communication open and don’t be afraid to be assertive. I definitely was uncomfortable with the conversations we had. I learned not to be. The money that was owed to me was my money. I had done nothing wrong in trying to collect. My fault lied in the fact that I did not tackle the problem from a business perspective.

As I said earlier, I am constantly evolving along with my business. That is one of the many things that I love about owning my own business. I am constantly learning and growing. Every day is different and I have a great opportunity to be my own boss while working from home.