WTW015 How Suzanne lost £5,000 (and how you can avoid doing the same)

What's The Worst That Can Happen?

Today on the podcast we’re having a bit of a change … instead of Suzanne interviewing a guest, she shares her personal experience of what happened in the early days of setting up her own business and how, due to being too busy and not thinking that something would happen, she ended up not having the right legal protection in place, which almost ended in financial disaster.

Suzanne trained and practiced at the world's largest law firm, specialising in mergers and acquisitions and private equity - a field that notoriously involves a lot of hard work, massive amounts of adrenaline, long hours and endless late nights.

Knowing she wanted to start a family, Suzanne quickly realised that working 20-hour days was unsustainable and not conducive to her having the work life balance she dreamed of.

Having always had an entrepreneurial streak, Suzanne thought long and hard about what she could do which would work hand in hand with looking after a growing family. So, the Small Business Legal Academy was born … and quickly thrived… as she gained a reputation as the small business go-to legal expert with a primarily female focussed audience gained through a powerful network of mumpreneurs.

However, an early spanner in the works – a non-payment of a £5,000 invoice - meant make or break for Suzanne’s fledgling enterprise and, ultimately, the possibility of returning to the corporate world – one which made her feel sick to the core.

In this episode, Suzanne shares exactly what happened… as she recognises herself - this was a real wakeup call - one that she learnt from and, as a result, has never repeated, by putting in place a very simple but watertight clause in her contracts.

She also shares some tips and insights on effective ways you can get paid if you’re also running into issues with your invoicing, and how, especially today in a time of economic uncertainty, to put in place the tools to help you get paid in full, on time, every time.

In this episode:

[1:04] Suzanne shares the story of how she trained in the world’s largest law firm, why she left, and how she decided to get into business for herself by starting her own legal consultancy.

[3:00] She explains how she went about growing her consultancy with debilitating morning sickness and an ever-growing baby bump, and why she very quickly became successful in doing so.

[5:50] Suzanne talks about the one thing she didn’t consider when working with a client of hers, and how an invoicing issue ultimately led to her losing £5,000.

[9:28] There were a few things that Suzanne could have done differently in this situation to avoid said loss, and she shares them with us to ensure we don’t make the same mistake.

[14:00] Suzanne shares insights on how she structured her payment model moving forward to avoid any other issues in the future.

[16:15] She also gives tips on how to get your invoices paid with less hassle and chasing after people.

Find the resources mentioned in this episode!

www.suzannedibble.com/podcastresources

The contents of this podcast are provided for information purposes only and are not intended to amount to advice. You should not rely on any of the contents of this podcast. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this podcast. Suzanne Dibble and Niche Legal Solutions Limited disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this podcast (other than in relation to matters for which is not legally permissible to disclaim liability)