Becoming Your Own Boss (BYOB, 7.6)

This series of articles covers topics that will hopefully not be needed for you and your independent contracting business, namely what to do "If Things Go Wrong". This seventh article of the "If Things Go Wrong" series tries to anticipate the main things that might go wrong for you in your independent contracting business, and continues addressing problems by going into how you can perform damage control on the problems that you might encounter as an independent contractor.

Addressing The Problem

In many cases, just recognizing a problem and determining its cause are all that is necessary to solve a problem. Much of the text in the prior sections dealt not only with identification of problems, but also some possible solutions to those problems. The procedures in this section deal more with problems for which there are no immediate, easy solutions. We deal with only more general classes of problems in this section, so if your problem is unique and specialized, you will need advice from experts or friends, or you will have to come up with your own solution.

There are four basic ways of dealing with problems:

1. You can head things off or divert incipient problems before those become insurmountable problems. This topic was covered in article BYOB, 7.4.

2. You can deal with a current problem in any way that is necessary to solve it, and then learn from the experience so you will never face the same problem again. This topic was covered in article BYOB, 7.5.

3. If the problem truly is insurmountable, you can do whatever is necessary to minimize the damage so you and your business can survive. This topic is covered in this article.

4. If the problem forces the demise of your business, you can learn from the experience so your future endeavors will meet with better success.

Minimizing Damage: You will occasionally confront a major problem such as the following:

• cancellation of a contract for cause,

• a major financial crisis, or

• a former client/associate who is spreading rumors about you or your business.

There are other examples of major problems, but all have a common thread; other people can cause future problems that might affect the viability of your contracting business. You must engage in damage control if confronted with problems of this type. Your goal is to minimize the amount of future problems that a current major problem might cause.

If you have a contract that was cancelled for cause (for instance, non-performance, over-budget, quality), try to set up a meeting with the client or the client's boss. Your stated purpose for this meeting is to do a post-mortem on the contract so you can determine what went wrong and correct your problems. Your real purpose is to:

• Make the client feel better about your services,

• Get the client to accept a share of the blame, and

• Get the client to perhaps consider you or your business for some work in the future.

At a minimum, you must dissuade the client from spreading poor recommendations to other potential clients in the area.

If your business has suffered a financial crisis such as loss of an office location, loss of employees, loss of a significant amount of business, or even a bankruptcy, your first priority is to let all your clients and potential clients know that you are still open for business. Whatever the financial crisis, you must not allow it to poison any future contracts. If necessary, contact your former clients and reassure them that you are still open for business. Do not hide the fact that you are having a financial crisis, but it is also not necessary to raise the issue if the client is not aware of it.

If a former client or associate is spreading rumors about you or your business, do whatever is necessary to stop the rumors. Try to convince the person to stop. If that doesn't work, you have legal recourse because spreading rumors is slander (or libel if done in writing). If you have been damaged by a rumor, you must be aggressive in stopping this damage. You have certainly been damaged if your reputation is affected adversely.

As an independent contractor, your reputation is your most valuable possession. Guard It Vigorously

On to the Conclusion

This is the final series in the Becoming Your Own Boss set of articles. If you have been following the set in the numbered sequence, you have been familiarized with today's employment situation and then examined your own situation in the BYOB, 1.x and BYOB, 2.x series. The BYOB, 3.x and BYOB, 4.x series took you through first preparing for business and then actually establishing your business. The last two series (BYOB, 5.x and BYOB, 6.x) taught you many of the aspects of marketing your services and the accounting topics you need to be aware of as an independent contractor.

The next article (BYOB, 7.7) is the final one in this series, and also the final article in the Becoming Your Own Boss set of articles. The final article deals with the hopefully never needed topic of dealing with a business failure.

To read the rest of the series click here