William's Diary (Part 1): It's time to give out something for FREE!

_It's time to give out something for FREE.

As a child of the Kingdom of God, am an obsessive believer in giving. I firmly believe in the law of sowing and reaping as a powerful force and a principle that governs everything in the kingdom of God and a fundamental pillar to godly prosperity.

Well, this is not what I want to talk about today. But think about it.

In 2013, we had just started our business. A startup. As usual I was over excited. We had two employees, a lady and a gent (Anne and Ben). Young and energetic and willing to dare the world. As would be expected of such a business, we all became marketers. Calling. Emailing. Knocking the doors of offices. We did it with so much enthusiasm as if nothing else in the world mattered. Of course nothing else mattered.

One month. Two months. Three months...on and on the time ticked. We had not received a single cheque from a client. We kept consuming my little savings for a whole 7 months. Then, finally, at the start of the eighth month, Anne had a small breakthrough with a client. Ladies are always better in marketing, if you never knew. We got our first assignment. I was there with my nice suit to do the presentation. We even carried the projector only to discover it was not meant to be such a serious, do-or-die, meeting. But Ben came dressed like a farmer despite the fact that I had asked them to come dressed like they're going to meet the president. He had to wait for us at the car park. It was that serious.

Our client was a large corporation. Listed in NSE. We thought that if we cracked this, we would be ready to fly. So, our client gave us what an assignment or he called a ' small test' to have a feel of our services. I think we missed on the context of this 'small test' because of excitement. We finished the assignment and sent an invoice. But the 'small test' came back to haunt us.

One early morning, Anne came to the office sobbing. I could not understand what was happening. "The client has said that they'll not pay for the invoice that we sent", she said. Apparently, she had a conversation with her client and they had declined to pay and reprimanded her for invoicing a 'test' service.

Hah! This hit me really hard. But I could not show it. I was hoping that this payment could settle our office rent for two or three months and ease the cash pressure which was really high at this time but from the look of things, it was not going to be. I told Anne to leave the matter to me to handle and she regained her peace. I called the client and asked to meet them the following morning at their offices on Enterprise Road. He agreed but made it clear that they'll not pay the invoice. I booked an 8.00am appointment.

The following day, I pulled at their office at 6.30am. I was early to beat the morning traffic along Mombasa Road. I thought it would be more profitable to work from my car as I waited for the appointed time. But as I was parking, a guard came to inquire who I was. I told him that am supposed to meet Mr. X at 8.00am. "He's already in the office, that's his car", the guard disclosed. I called him and told him that I was actually at the car park. "William, am doing my morning rituals, this is too early to see anyone". Anyway, he allowed me in.

As I settled in his office, he started on a rather rough note asking why we sent him an invoice. I had already made my mind on how to handle this situation. I calmly said, "Actually we discussed in the office with the team and decided to withdraw that invoice. Am here to settle that and see what next we can do for you. That invoice should not bother you at all". He sighed and gave me a big 'thank you'. "I was very worried on what to tell my director because, after we met, I had told him that you'll not charge for this initial service", he added. What followed was a very easy, friendly conversation. I walked out with more jobs. This client went on to become one of our biggest clients and would later be a very critical partner in helping us stabilize our cashflow.

Was Anne happy? Well, she was eagerly waiting to know the outcome of the meeting. "The client has given us more jobs and am sure you'll be very happy with this", I told Anne. She was up with excitement. In the midst of this excitement, I got an opportunity to deliver the bad piece of news; that the client was not paying for the initial invoice, eventually. I had to positively strike a balance because, evidently, her first commission that she had worked so hard and hoped for, had evaporated. It's a blend of loss and gain.

As entrepreneurs, we must be willing to give out something for free. There are pieces of work we do for our clients for free. This is how we deepen our relationships. Being too rigid can hurt your business. Established businesses can afford to dictate things and get away with it. Not with the startups. Our flexibility allows us to create more room for opportunities that we badly need at this stage.

GIVE SOMETHING FOR FREE and walk away. Because life is a business of giving and receiving. It will come back somehow, someday.