If you’re a small business
and you have a large customer,
odds are…
your customer will try to
convince you to offer a service/product
you don’t normally offer.
The temptation is to say yes,
to grab this new business,
but there WILL be a price for agreeing.
A huge New York publisher
asked me to take on a large project.
I was excited and flattered
to be offered this opportunity
and said yes without thinking about it.
This project destroyed
my pen name’s readership (customer) base.
My brand also morphed
into writer-for-hire,
making it almost impossible
to sell one of MY ideas
into another publisher
(they want me to write THEIR ideas).
I took all of the risk,
ended up earning no money
and it will take years,
perhaps a decade to repair the damage.
Yes, I made the publisher happy
but that publisher is now
working with other writers
and not me
(because this pen name no longer
has the readership).
They cut ties without hesitation.
THINK about whether or not
you’ll take on special projects
for your large clients.
This is YOUR company.
Ensure that you’re calling the shots
and making the decisions.