Decisions…
 America's trusted voice on money and business, Dave Ramsey is a personal money management expert and extremely popular national radio personality. His three New York Times best-selling books - Financial Peace, More Than Enough and The Total Money Makeover - have sold more than 6 million copies combined. His latest book is EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches.
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Explore how small business owners can balance personal financial values with business practices like offering financing and credit card payments without feeling hypocritical.
Dave, My husband and I own a roofing company. We have also taken your Financial Peace course, and we’re on Baby Step 4 of your plan. In our business, we offer our customers a 12 months, same as cash, payment plan. In addition, we accept credit cards. I’ve begun to feel weird about both practices. Do you feel it makes us hypocrites to do this in our business, when we follow your teachings for avoiding debt in our personal lives? Traci Traci, This is an interesting question. I’m glad you’re thinking a little deeper when it comes to your finances, both in and away from your business. If this situation is really bothering you, it might be a good time for you and your husband to sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk about some of your business practices. Be open and honest. You might even want to ask yourselves if you feel these practices are a blessing-or a burden-to your customers. But, if you decide together they’re not things you feel good about, and you decide to stop offering those kinds of financing deals, you’ll need to get busy fast creating other marketing strategies. I can guarantee you’ll lose clients over such an unconventional decision. Now, if you’re not ready for such a big change in your business, you could still offer those kinds of deals, while actively discouraging their use. This could be as simple as engaging your customers in conversation, and letting them know you’d just save up for a few months and pay cash if you were in their shoes. That way, the decision is theirs. Believe me, I understand your dilemma. I appreciate your heart for wise money management, too. As people who are following my personal finance plan, I totally get that the last thing you want to do is encourage someone to take on debt. I appreciate this. At the same time, the last thing you want to do-as entrepreneurs-is lose sales and chase away good business. I don’t think you’re being hypocritical, Traci. But you and your husband do have some talking to do and big decisions to make about your company. Ten years from now, you’ll want to know you tried your best to do the right thing for your customers. And at the same time, you’ll want to know you tried your best to do the right thing for your business, as well. Good luck, you two! Dave Read other business articles |