You might be an entrepreneur if…you pay all your bills on the last possible day you can, and you know all those dates by heart for each bill. Here’s a little test, just off the top of my head:
Rent, due on the 1st of each month, but the landlord is pretty lenient and I can usually get away with no paying until…you know, I better not give too much detail on some of these.
Health insurance, due on the 1st, but there’s something of a grace period that goes through the end of the month. However, if it’s not in by the 1st of the next month it can get automatically shut off and then the process of getting it reinstated is kind of a pain. Trust me, I know. So we usually mail that payment in before the end of each month. As long as we get it in the mail by the last day of the month we’ve always been ok.
Two loan payments are due on the 1st, and another is due on the 18th. These can go as far as 60 days past due, but the penalties are fairly expensive, and once they’re 30 days overdue my banker starts paying me visits, which is fine because he’s a nice enough guy, but who knows, he might break my knees next time.
The Amex card is due on the 18th, or is it 19th? Well, somewhere in there. Man, they’re sticklers. If you don’t have that thing paid off within 10-15 days they turn your card off until you pay the balance, and it doesn’t take too long before they threaten to close your account.
Anyway, there are a few examples. I’m probably not as knowledgeable about some of the smaller items.
Those who have dealt with cash flow issues for an extended period of time know exactly how I feel. If you find yourself thinking “Why doesn’t he just pay his bills on time?” then you’re probably not what I’d call an entrepreneur.
Speaking of cash flow, I was watching a documentary on the creation of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii, and they were talking about how in the early days they weren’t bringing in enough money and the head guy had to approach the employees and tell them they were shutting down because they didn’t have enough money to make payroll. The employees said they weren’t going to let it fail, and they’d keep working as long as it took to make the place work, payroll or not.
Admirable and generous of the employees to do that, but my first thought was “They’re going to miss one payroll and that’s reason enough to close the whole place down? C’mon, I know of companies that went 9 months without making payroll and they still kept employees on staff and kept the doors open.” If I had closed my doors the first time I was late on payroll I would have been out of business 3 months into this venture. Since then I’ve been late on payroll a lot, but the company is still here. For a few months once I was the only employee and I wasn’t getting paid, but the company is still here, and we’re still getting work done, making money, and making progress. That’s why I say failure is a choice, and businesses don’t go out of business because they don’t have any money, they go out of business because the owners quit. It’s stressful, but it hasn’t become so stressful as to make me quit. But if I didn’t track when bills were due then it’d become quite a bit more stressful, and I’m not sure how much knee-breaking I could handle.
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Oh yes, and you might be an entrepreneur if… the flatware and utensils you pull out of the filing cabinet (that doubles as a pantry, utensil drawer and office supplies drawer) have been donated from fellow employees. Or your napkins don’t match because they evolved from a collection that evolved from various eateries around the office (along with some of the utensils) or when it is absolutely necessary, you break down and buy a handful of coffee cups from the dollar store to impress your clients when they visit.
You might be an entrepreneur if…you know that the landlord is selling the high end class ‘C’ office building and that because the building is under contract you may get that space for a conference room you have had your eye on for the last 6 months. His hands are tied and he can’t enter into a new contract while the building is under contract and he wants to show the potential owners that he has a full building…on and on… . Or convince the landlord that you could help him by taking those glass top computer desks off of his hands for .15 cents on the dollar (I’ll take 4 of those please).
And those bills, how about the negotiation (groveling) to the credit card holder to remove those stiff late charges that appear if you are 2 minutes past due? Or paying the rent on time plus or minus 5 days (most often minus) and knowing that you will be placing that phone call to let the landlord know that the ‘check is in the mail’?
I love the series “You might be an entrepreneur if…” It reminds me that I am not the only one and yes, there are others out there. Keep it up!
Thanks, I needed this this morning. left the house with a bunch of due dates weighing down on me. This post makes me feel like a real entrepreneur…