It's been a long time since I posted in the forum...I poke my head in occasionally, but haven't really kept up.
I've been swamped with keeping my business afloat the past year. It's been a hellish year. Things were incredible this time last year (and when I first joined the forum)...so much so that I wasn't ready to sell, because why sell something that throws off a good income stream? Fast forward a year, and I can't sell...or at least not at a price I'd want, because gross revenues have been down way below half of what is typical.
Anyway, I'm finally moved to post, in hopes that this will help someone else avoid my pitfall. (I have to thank YogiBear's post for making me post...his/her trouble with a key employee is what focused my attention back on the forum, and what reminded me that there's always something to learn--and perhaps also something worth sharing.)
SO...I just want to admit that MJ was right re: the rule about not having just one customer. We did, but I found many ways to fool myself that we didn't. I also told myself that it didn't matter...that rule didn't apply in our case. Bullshit....it applies.
Our clients are federal government. Many different branches of the federal government, sure, but at the end of the day (at the end of an election cycle at the end of a recession) it really doesn't matter. It hasn't been a good year to be selling to the federal government. So when you test your business idea for robustness, consider this--if one client type stops spending, do you have other client types/groups that will continue or up spending? Because when they all stop spending at the time, life gets hard.
We're recovering...we've cut all the fat, returned to lean overhead operations and stayed committed to providing top quality product which is what caused our success in the first place. And the light at the end of the tunnel's getting bigger, we're in a better place now than we were 6 months ago. Diversifying our client base is difficult, but I'm working on it. I'm also thinking more concretely about an exit strategy...I like my job, and derive a lot of satisfaction from having built a company. But let's be honest, I especially like my job when I make a lot of money, and if I could sell the "job" for a lot of money...I'd still be satisfied.
Thanks for letting me vent.
To quote Monty Python..."I'm not dead yet!"
I've been swamped with keeping my business afloat the past year. It's been a hellish year. Things were incredible this time last year (and when I first joined the forum)...so much so that I wasn't ready to sell, because why sell something that throws off a good income stream? Fast forward a year, and I can't sell...or at least not at a price I'd want, because gross revenues have been down way below half of what is typical.
Anyway, I'm finally moved to post, in hopes that this will help someone else avoid my pitfall. (I have to thank YogiBear's post for making me post...his/her trouble with a key employee is what focused my attention back on the forum, and what reminded me that there's always something to learn--and perhaps also something worth sharing.)
SO...I just want to admit that MJ was right re: the rule about not having just one customer. We did, but I found many ways to fool myself that we didn't. I also told myself that it didn't matter...that rule didn't apply in our case. Bullshit....it applies.
Our clients are federal government. Many different branches of the federal government, sure, but at the end of the day (at the end of an election cycle at the end of a recession) it really doesn't matter. It hasn't been a good year to be selling to the federal government. So when you test your business idea for robustness, consider this--if one client type stops spending, do you have other client types/groups that will continue or up spending? Because when they all stop spending at the time, life gets hard.
We're recovering...we've cut all the fat, returned to lean overhead operations and stayed committed to providing top quality product which is what caused our success in the first place. And the light at the end of the tunnel's getting bigger, we're in a better place now than we were 6 months ago. Diversifying our client base is difficult, but I'm working on it. I'm also thinking more concretely about an exit strategy...I like my job, and derive a lot of satisfaction from having built a company. But let's be honest, I especially like my job when I make a lot of money, and if I could sell the "job" for a lot of money...I'd still be satisfied.
Thanks for letting me vent.
To quote Monty Python..."I'm not dead yet!"
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