Networking Tip of the Week:

A young entrepreneur lamented that more and more of his clients weren't paying on time. Frustrated to no end with this issue and its impact, he created a process to automatically remind them of their tardiness, hoping to "guilt" them into paying.

To help, I wrote an article on "maintaining cash flow in a down economy" (in the article archive of the NFR Network) and emailed him a copy. He replied with a 500-word rant, railing at how the
world was against small business and nothing could be done.

It occurred to me that he was accepting the status quo rather than addressing the core problem. By re-evaluating both his receivables mindset and methodology, he has now devised strategies that turn this high-priority issue to his advantage.

This week's tip:
The "new" economy is affecting professionals in many different ways: from fewer haircuts (a small problem for me), to delaying purchases or conserving cash. For every negative issue, there is a (sometimes hard-to-find) positive side. Find and leverage it to optimize your results.
Example: how about offering a discount for early payment, cash payment or pre-payment? Who wouldn't be interested in saving money these days?