Leaving Your Business Behind

Recently, we have been saddened to hear of several professionals on their own for years that decided to go corporate. We can’t stand alone forever.

Small business owners, particularly sole proprietors, can only charge for one job at a time. They do not have other employees also bringing in income. Do the Primes or Funders understand this? If they do, they do not seem to care.

We have been party to many conversations recently that included the commentary ‘by their definition, a sole proprietor can only bill for one job at a time’. Yet, large firms or their employees do not seem to care. They quote the contract, they state it is too inconvenient to make special one off payments to said sole proprietors. Again, they do not care. Just own it, tell them you do not care. It is what your actions say.

Many hide behind the onerous paperwork required on government jobs to get the funds released by the funding agent. More often than not, this is the State. Their paper requirements are notoriously onerous. They prevent the Prime from being more willing to accelerate invoice submissions as they want to wait until their payment is sufficient enough to warrant the efforts required with the paperwork. This often delays payment to the sole properties, to the point that their credit scores and general reputations can be ruined.

Given this, it is not surprising we are seeing sole proprietors close up shop and head back to the corporate way of life. Sometimes, the reliability of a bi-weekly paycheck is just too tough to pass up. You may have to give up your creativity, your entrepreneurial flare, just to survive financially.

As another new year approaches, kudos to those still standing and fighting the system. And to those who simply could not hang on any longer, thank you for your contributions and we are sorry the system has failed you. Perhaps, one day, proper focus will be placed on the sole proprietor and efforts will be made to support their entrepreneurial endeavors.

Be well.