the deltaTraffic weblog

Unveiling a new site about handwriting analysis services and courses from graphologist, Barbara Weaver.

Every 3 months, in the uk, about 3 or 4 thousand businesses go broke, or bankrupt.

If you are employed by one about to go bust, the same could happen to you.

Here are the figures.

I’m still owed quite alot of wages by one of them; if I’d done my homework extensively I would have run a mile rather than work for that man. According to the record, his business was finished earlier last year. But it wasnt at all easy to see who I was working for. A slight name-change was enough to hide his identity from what was available on-line; turns out he had to get his wife to be director since he had been disbarred from directorship for years. I should have known this guy was a player when he laughed at contracts “we dont need to do contracts, surely, haha haha??” but at the same time asked for an NDA. Because the sums involved were going to be large I did not dare to ask for an advance. Dear oh dear oh dear. What a fool I was – all the risk was taken by me and minimial from the crooks. When it turned out their business plan was nonsense and was somekind of weeze to get money out his wife, I was already being strung along waiting for the third payment that never came, having worked whilst waiting for the cheque to not bounce.

Anyway, blood under the bridge and all that.

If youre unsure about a new client or if you just want to know how strong they are, get some ID, check their records on Companies House (pay the £1 for the downloadable TIFF - its well worth it – but n.b. they maintain opening hours) and see if they are on the London Gazette – the place where all the insolvencies and requests for owing money from solicitors are published – its free to search.

So before you step into a verbal or written agreement with someone you dont know, find out who your new client is, and, comparing the story you have been presented, and what you may dig up, some surprises may be in store for you. You could frighten off someone genuine, but as long as you handle the ID stage with some grace, any upstanding individual should not be taken-aback by such a request.

Anyone worth their salt will tell you the small but significant cost in terms of time & money researching the new client is well spent; you dont need to go through their trash or call a P.I. but wouldnt you want to know, if youre working freelance and have no legal-dept to call on, that after a months hard graft, you are definately going to get your wages in full?

Should you have discovered some “skeletons in the closet”, you can politely decline further approaches from the individual and save your time for people who wont drag your business down with them.

If you need more proof, the chances are significantly higher now than several years ago that there is a problem with an individuals credit:

So you have to be even more careful with non-companies than you do companies.

Take care in the jungle!