‘Not in My Wheelhouse’
If you have a dog or even a cat or horse as a pet, and you find something out of place, they will often give you that ‘not me’ look or, better yet, run. Some will even go so far as to point or look at another pet in the house to deflect blame. People are no different.
One of the most important behaviors I learned early on in my corporate career, now many decades ago, was how important it was to take accountability. My business clients came to me with any bank related issue they encountered. To tell them that wasn’t my department would have been a fast track to losing said client. Taking ownership of anything my clients encountered relative to the company I worked for, was paramount. It reflected my commitment to them as their representative and it allowed me to better manage their experience, and, hopefully, turn it positive.
As a sole proprietor, I have really not seen that type of accountability when dealing with other, larger firms. It has been a sea of deflection at times. You could swear the folks you are encountering secretly wore a shiny coat of armor, where everything slid off of them or was deflected.
The most notable comment came from a client’s experience with a project manager of a much larger firm, ‘it’s not in my wheelhouse’, when asked about the payment owed that was well overdue. Really?! You are the project manager, I am your consultant on the project and you ‘manage’ the project but payments to said consultant on said project are not ‘in your wheelhouse’? Truly shocking.
If your firm encounters this treatment, push back. Remind them you are a sole proprietor or a small business and part of your participation in this project relies upon them honoring the contract and paying you per the terms of the executed document. If you receive less than satisfactory responses, push to get the name of the Director of Finance, the CFO, or the Accounts Payable Manager. Colleagues have been successful moving past said Project Managers and working directly with the paying firm’s accounting or payment department.
Payment as a solopreneuer, as a sole proprietor, even as a small business, can be the hardest aspect of business ownership to manage. Do not back down, push to be paid, it is their contractual responsibility, despite comments like ‘not in my wheelhouse’. It happens more than we care to acknowledge, but we all need to get paid and best to identify these ‘slippery snakes’ and move past them early on to those holding the actual checkbook.
Be well.
