Blog #9

I actually had my interview already. Do I need to keep these in structured notes? I just wrote a lot of little things, if that's alright. If you want it in paragraphs, leave a comment. I like it scattered around more because I look at it as things aren't taught or learned in order. Here were some of the categories we covered in the first interview.

Company:
She didn't start as a green company (Products didn't work though and they were expensive)
2-3 years into the company, she slowly fading out products (Switching them)
Christine's Cleaning Service (She wanted a professional name)
Cleaning industry (She saw the need for a good cleaning company)
She was in property management (Previous cleaning companies had no website and bad customer service)
House cleaning had bad image
She wanted to better the image
Costed 5 gran (For branding and website) (Had to take loan)
She's competitive (But she wants to bring everyone up for the industry)

Christine!:
Christine is bad with money xD!
Dad would blow money on stuff
"She'll cross that bridge when she comes to it"
Business owners don't budget most of the time
You always want to delegate things you don't like doing/ don't have time to do
Lots of teamwork

Business Issues:
Big problem, didn't collect people money (Nov 2007) (Company was half the size people owed 16k)
2k isn't that bad, it's current money owed
AR is account receivables AP account payable

Trouble with clients not paying:
6 years she sent 5 people to collections (3 months or more late) (Mails and invoices)
Three out of 5 paid (Can put on their credit report)

Client get angry:
Had to make a manual
40 thousand dollar engagement ring (Was "stolen" and client was angry. Turned out husband got to get it cleaned)
They have to listen (99.9% the client finds it. Client is in denial. I'm not suprsied about this one.)

Businesses:
Business is stressful
Business owners want to spend money on Lawyer, CPA (They are doing your accounting, saving you from the IRS. Saves money on taxes), Bookkeeper.
Called Business coach first (Needed to call her attorney, but got reassurance)
Call clients immediately if they break something
Problem solving is fast (The problem will become a crisis if you don't)
Consult with other business owners and mentors (They may have gone through the same thing)

Retirement:
- Inflation is about 2-4% a year
- Christine wants about 3.5mil for retirement

Awards Christine had been nominated for or got:
- Woman entrepreneur
- Young entrepreneur
- Small business person of the year
- A small business is defined as a business that makes less then 50million a year