May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.
~Irish Blessing
While we celebrate and associate St. Patrick's Day with parades, pub crawls, green beer, shamrock, and donning everything green, I thought it might be interesting to note that most of these traditions were invented in the United States by Irish-Americans, according to this article in the National Geographic Daily News, St. Patrick's Day 2012: Facts, Myths, and Traditions. In Ireland, March 17th was a minor religious holiday to commemorate its patron saint's birthday. St. Patrick devoted the latter part of his life converting Irish native pagans to Christianity. However, it is now celebrated in full force with parades, lots of beer drinking, and revelry in Ireland, and really, everywhere around the world. How are you celebrating St. Patrick's Day? I would love to hear about your family traditions.
Now, if you are running a business, don't just rely on this one day of Irish luck to grow your cash flow. Follow these few easy tips to ensure that your cash keeps flowing into your own Pot of Gold:
- Have a written credit policy
- Make sure your staff and clients/patients are aware of this policy
- Train your staff to consistently enforce your established credit policy - be polite but firm
- It's often better to negotiate and agree on a payment plan instead of agreeing to delay payments past 30 days.
- Intervene early and frequently with professional billing reminders (every 10 to 14 days)
- When your internal efforts are no longer effective, outsource it to a professional and reputable collection service. Consider a low fixed fee service that allows you to keep 100% of your collected revenue, such as Transworld Systems. If you have a need, I can help.
May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live. - Irish saying
