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You have worked hard to get this project and your client wants you to start immediately. Do you really need a contract? Yes, you do!
Allen Weiss, management consulting guru, takes a fairly cold-blooded approach to getting rid of clients. He looks at the revenue stream from each client over the last two years and chops off the bottom 15%. Then he expands the top 5%. His premise is that you need to focus on the area of your market that stimulates your learning and expertise. If you are accepting the same types of assignments at the same fee structure today as you did two years ago, you are not growing as a consultant. You are also not increasing your bottom line. For those of us with a social justice perspective, however, this approach may not sit well. Some of our smallest clients actually provide the most interesting work and need us the most.
Still, sometimes we get more, or less, than we bargained for. We can find ourselves contemplating the very serious question, “How can I fire my client?”
Winning a consulting project feels like a victory but the real war is just beginning. While we’re always happy when money comes into our business, we’re not so thrilled when it goes out again. The movement of cash in and out of your business every month is called your cash flow.
Answer these questions:
· What is your current bank balance? How is your current balance different from last month’s?
· Do you have a balance sheet? When was the last time you looked at it?
· Do you have a year end? What is your anticipated revenue this year?
You are not alone if you don’t know the answers.
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