I have been in the meetings and events business for almost 15 years. If you’re like me you’ve seen the tough times of the early 90s, the 9/11 repercussions, the dotcom crash and now here we are in the age of “major transition.”
I’ve worked with some of the biggest and the best corporations, associations, speaker bureaus, meeting professionals and production companies. I’ve always run my business on relationships and trust – basically I do business from my heart. If someone I’ve done business with for years asks for some extra time to pay one of my speakers, I give them that time. When they say they’re going to pay by such and such a date, I believe them and trust it will happen.
In these tough times, I’ve been so grateful that almost all of our customers have been able to pay within a reasonable amount of time. A few are struggling with cash flow and their accounts are now well overdue. We love to do business with them - they have brought a lot of business to us over the years but my speakers and my company are hurting.
Because of this, for the first time in 15 years, I’ve implemented a strict payment plan. In order to protect my speakers, my employees and my company I felt I had no other choice.
But I’m struggling with my heart. We’re all in these tough economic times together and I sorely want to help my friends. I see economic rays of sunshine streaming our way again and my heart tells me to give them more time. But my head, my Controller and our speakers’ situations are stopping me. I feel that I have to run my business differently and it kind of makes me sad.
What about you – is the economy hardening your heart?
xoxo