No, No, It's You...

When you start a business, you would be a fool to not take every bit of business to come your way. No matter how painful, annoying, needy, even jerkish...if it is money and coming in to your new venture...give it to me. But when is enough is enough? When is the line drawn in the sand when it is no longer ok to be spoken to like you are an employee or not an equal and you have Holly Go Lightly and tap danced for someone to pay you that you are over it? Do you wait till you have a good customer base to where you can sacrifice your income but save you morale? How much is peace of mind actually worth? These are questions that I ask myself a lot. I am very fortunate that I have finally got over the nerves of making my number to exist successfully. It wasn't a big number it was just the number that in my head was enough to make monthly where all my bills could be paid, money could go in savings and not check your bank balance every minute. Now that I am at the point, my courage is there to really establish what I will and will not put up. They include the following:

1. Being talked to like I am a piece of dirt. This is really never acceptable but with years and years of working for the man (although in my case, he is one the nicest men I know), you can get very accustom to  sucking it up for your customers or clients to get the deal done, so that he wont cancel, so you will make money off of it, etc. When you own your own business, you may forget that you don't have to deal with this anxiety anymore.

2. People that do not respect you. There is this interesting psychology when you are being sold to, you are way up here (reach your arm way up) and the seller is somewhere near or beneath the ground. I have backed out of a proposal because the guy was a total arrogant cussword the entire time we were meeting for the first time. When I politely said Thanks, but no thanks-he was shocked. Even as far to ask incredulously, do you not want my money?? Sometimes the money isn't worth it.

3. People who don't pay you. Speaking of money, why are working with people that don't respect the fact that we need to be paid? I have very clear billing terms and I tend to lose my mind a little when I have to stalk people for payment. Because I choose to work with small businesses, I take it a little more personal than when I was at the radio station. If it is taught me anything, I try really hard to make sure the biils I pay are in order of "The Man" or lack thereof...lawn gets paid first, that hospital bill, when I get around to it...sorry....People that don't pay you, and know full and well firsthand the challenges you face as a small business owners should be ashamed of themselves. Just be very clear of each others expectations in this matter so everyone is on the same page.

These are my top three of people not to work for...what are yours?

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