BOBC Podcast Transcription #135: Money And Power Are Not The Same Thing
Introduction:
The axiom that the client is always right is not true for creative business. If you let someone’s wallet dictate the limits of your power to do what you do, it will be lesson in self-inflicted pain. Let’s talk about how to make sure you do not do that. The show is yours to run.
Body:
So we were all growing up and taught that the client is always right. You know, that’s the part of business and we want the client is always right. So therefore you have to do what you can to make that client happy. And that’s, you know, , I understand the value of that. But when it comes to creative business, well, the client is always wrong.
And the reason the client is always wrong is because they just don’t do what you do. They don’t have a sense of it. They don’t live in it and they want, and they believe that they have access to what you do, but they don’t do what you do, right? And so they don’t know how to plan a wedding, how to cater a wedding, how to design a house, how to, you know, furnish a house or whatever you pick, whatever creative business you might be in.
They just don’t know what that is and that’s not what they do every day. And so therefore the process of how you get to what it could be to create something that did not exist before you went down this road with them to actually manifesting, whatever that might be, is that’s really the responsibility for you to take and where things get corrupted is where, you know, you’re dealing with people, first of all, it’s discretionary spend and that’s, that’s what I’ve said forever. Nobody needs what you do. And therefore it is completely discretionary. But even more important is that nine times out of 10 probably even more than that, your client has greater means than you do right?
They’re you know, a lot of times they’re in, you know, different economic categories, a lot of times they’re in the stratosphere relative to where you are. . And so you combine those two things. Extraordinarily wealthy people working with you, whom I’m not saying you’re not extraordinarily wealthy, but not like they are right in, in doing the thing that they are commissioning you to do, that nobody needs creates the possibility of a tremendous power imbalance, right? They have all the money. They have this huge project that you want to work on and it becomes something where it can get corrupted really, really fast.
Specifically for dollars, if dollars don’t flow decisions, of course, true to, but if dollars don’t flow, man, things can get really ugly really fast because, you know, people can control with money and it’s been that way for, for ages. And when the client is always right, you’re going to do whatever it takes. To make sure that you get that money. And sometimes that means compromising so that you can do whatever it takes to get that money. Now, if that’s the way you run your business and you’re comfortable with that, fine, but here’s the thing.
You know, when there becomes significant money owed, it has to be billed. I can tell you, that’s the first thing I want to talk about today is that if you’re owed money, then you have to bill for that money and you have to get paid that money. And the reason is, is if you don’t respect the fact that the life of your business is dependent on the money you receive, then why should anybody else respect it?
So the life of your business is fundamentally built on the money it receives in order to keep going. That is the way of the world. No money, no business. So if you’re owed money, you have to bill it. Okay. That’s easy enough, but I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve worked with who are just get too busy, right?
They’re too busy to write a bill and they lose that momentum of time. And you know, that becomes its own issue, right? Where you’re owed a significant amount of money that, you know, you believe your client will pay and they probably will, but you know, it just doesn’t age well, right? So if you’re owed money and you’re not paid, you must bill.
That’s the easiest advice I can give. And just no matter what, there is no higher priority to be billing. But, we don’t live in a binary world when it comes to money, right? So, and if you fall into that trap of living in a binary world, when it comes to money, then you are also going to be in, in trouble, right?
So for instance, if what you’re doing is you’re a baker and you’re baking a cake and you know. Hey, you don’t know exactly how many people they’re going to be baking the cake for, but you do know that it’s never going to be less than 150, right? Well, you know what it takes to bake at least 150 person cake, right?
So we’re not arguing over. Do you have enough money for 150 people, right? We’re arguing over, how many people are there going to be in the end? And so where I’m going with this is if you’re owed $100, right, that you think for the 150 people and then it’s whether or not it’s another $50 or $20, right? Somewhere in there, right?
And for the rest of the cake, right? It’s not in dispute whether or not you’re going to get the $100 for the base 150. So my point is, is like the money for those items for which you are already, there is no dispute has to be paid and I can’t tell you how many different creative businesses that I’ve worked with and know live in this binary world.
Well, I haven’t finalized what the X bill is going to be, so therefore I haven’t sent it or therefore we haven’t done this stuff. It’s like, no, there’s always a baseline for which there is no argument that you need to be paid. Now there’s great clients out there that will pay you no matter what, and you don’t have to worry about that, but it just takes one time, even for great clients to not pay you right?
And therefore, they owe you money for which there is no dispute. So even if there was a dispute, I’m not saying there’s going to be a dispute, but even a misunderstanding or a clarification is needed. But what doesn’t happen is that this baseline doesn’t get paid, right? And so why am I being so specific this week is because this is just Stuff that has to happen, right?
In the sense of like when you’re living in a world where the client is always wrong, they’re making decisions as you move them through. They have to pay the money that’s due and owing to them in a very specific way so that you have the wherewithal to keep going right? And that you have to honor the fact that maybe for them, the money they owe you is not really that significant to their overall bank account, but to your bank account, it certainly is because that’s the other part of creative business. The vast majority of you don’t have a lot of clients and so therefore don’t have a lot of constant money coming in from a lot of different places. You have money coming in from your principal clients, and that means people have to make their payments.
And then the idea of what that looks like is saying, Hey, I sent you a bill. I expect it to be paid in a week. I expect to be paid in days in the world that we live in with electronic payments. It can be paid in a matter of minutes. Right? And so the idea is if I’m going to send you a bill, I expect it to be paid within days, not weeks, not months.
We’re not dealing with, you know, net. 30, right? It’s not going to be that way. So I think that’s incredibly important. And the reason I’m focusing here is like, what should happen is like, Hey, this money is due. And then what happens that is really the pain that I see in so many businesses is that, Hey, Money doesn’t flow.
So you’re stuck. You want to keep the project moving, but then you have a choice. Either I don’t do the work, in which case things are going to slow down, of which I’m then going to have to scramble, or I keep doing work, even though I’m owed money. So this is a Very specific podcast in the sense of what should you do?
I understand that it’s painful. I understand that you won’t want to do it. I understand all the reasons why you should keep going and like, Oh, they’re good for it. They’ll pay me no matter what. Ultimately, I’m going to get there. And my point to you is I don’t agree with you at all. The wherewithal for you is to be paid the money you’re due and owing. Right? However that might be. And if they signed your contract, they know it’s due in owing. They need to pay it. If they don’t pay it, You need to stop 100, 000, 000 percent and whatever pain they feel because you’ve stopped doing the work. It means that you’re just not going to do the work because you didn’t get paid to do the work.
They employed you to do work and you’re not doing it right because they didn’t pay you to do it. That has gotta be in your head and you can say, well, that makes me look, you know, like unprofessional. Anything like really? It’s unprofessional to do work when you’re not being honored by being paid the money that’s due and owing to you.
So and if there is a dispute or an argument or something like that, well, let’s talk about the money that there is no dispute about and get paid that. Because until we have that, that understanding that I don’t really care how big your bank account is, that I actually am the person running this show.
And if you’re going to exert power that you don’t actually have, right, then we are going to be in a very terrible place, right? Because then I’m going to do what it takes for me to to basically , have to compromise myself in order to keep going. And so here’s another example, interior design. I can’t tell you how many interior design budgets get cut during the course of a project. And there has to be a redesign, but the cost to redesign is negligible. So literally, you’re paying to redesign. I don’t understand that. I don’t understand why people don’t have to live to their deal. Right? And so why would I keep going? Like because of the vanity of finishing? Because I have to, because some money’s better than others.
Well, that becomes again, an example of power imbalance. So this whole podcast is about making sure that in this case, in this world, in this way, you are the star of the show. You are the expert. It is for you to guide. And if what you have. Is this weakness in your business either because of your business practices that I don’t bill very regularly or I’m only billing when things are perfect, right, then you have to appreciate that you’re going to create a power dynamic that is something you do not want. Someone has the wherewithal to keep you going and they’re not giving it to you and you’re not saying, fine, I quit and the pain that you’re going to feel when I quit is going to be the pain that you feel.
You’re not doing that. So therefore things are going to get corrupted even with the best clients. Right? So because you’re basically saying the terms for which you agreed to, no matter who you are, you’re not living to, and I now have to abide by the fact that you’re not willing to live to my terms and I’m still keeping going.
That doesn’t say anything about you other than the fact that you’re an amateur right? So we can’t be doing that, right? So money is, you know, can be ugly, but, and it can be, you know, the place that people use it as a wedge and to beat you and all those kinds of things, or it can be just about energy and the energy to keep your business going, to keep you excited about what you’re doing and to basically be an indicator of where you are in a process.
Which means it has to be deeply respected as that as like the flow of water and that water has to flow the way you say it has to flow and if it doesn’t, then you’re just going to stop it going all together, right? And when you do that, then you can understand, hey, I don’t really care what you are on the other side. You owe me money and me is not me. Me is the Business and if the business doesn’t actually have money, it can’t keep going, right? Unless you’re going to write a check out of your own account, in which case, then you are literally serving the business instead of the business serving you, right? So do yourself a favor and collect money, bill money, and make sure that you are always paid as much as possible for the work that you’re doing when it is due and owing.
And oh, by the way, make it simple. And so the, the idea of this is, is like, there’s no need to make things ornate and perfect , or, or such. And you may have to do that ultimately, but you don’t necessarily have to do that right away. It is far more important for you to be honored by getting the money that is due to you, whether that’s due to your firm or that’s due for production, it must flow.
And if it does not flow, it is up to you to say, Hey, I’m not only stopping, but the pain of what it’s going to look like for you to start again is going to be what it is, right? Because that money has stopped flowing and it is really, truly a statement of how egregious your behavior is that I’m going to take it into consideration and so that we can now not have a place where if people of means are, are very much accustomed to wielding that power, however they want to, even the most kind hearted, you know, benevolent people.
Inevitably, sometimes you wield with money, right? And we just need to not be in that place as professional creatives because it is up to you to be the expert in the room. And that means that the money flows the way that you say it flows, not the way that your client says it flows. And in that way, Everyone will have the right understanding and the projects will go as they’re supposed to go.
And then money won’t be a consideration when it comes to discussing how things may or may not go. Cause the illusion of power is its own demise. And I do not want that for any of you because the power, once we get to the place where money is due is now meant to reside completely with you.
And I want that to be honored so that you can continue to do the great work that you were paid to do in the first place.
That is my riff for today. Thank you so very much for listening.
