What is your account balance?

It's an interesting time to be a small business owner. The economy remains slow, spending is tight, paying clients are few and far between. And yet, it's times like these where you involuntarily begin to reap what you've sown. You see the investment that you've made in relationships coming back to you (either positively or negatively).

I had a tough conversation with our landlord this morning. I explained that cash flow is tight, and while we've done all the belt-tightening we can we're still looking at a couple of very lean months in the immediate future. I wasn't sure how he was going to take it, but he was more than willing to work out a win-win solution that helps us in the near term, while protecting his interest in the long term. He is a small-business man himself, appreciates the nature of our business and understands the value in keeping us both afloat.

Not surprisingly, I had a similar conversation with my staff. They tell me that they buy into our direction and are willing to make near term sacrifices for the long-term good of both themselves and the company. I am blessed to have a staff that is willing to reduce their pay now, while trying to drum up business for the future. In talking with other small business owners, I realize this is not the norm.

Even some of our clients have gone above and beyond to find opportunities to pay us, strictly to keep us in business. They realize it is in their best interest to have us around when the economy recovers, so they're helping us now.

My takeaway from this is simple - a tough economy really challenges more than your retirement fund. The "return" you get now is dependent on the investment in relationships that you made during the good times. Those whom you invested in are there for you now. Those that you didn't, have already either vanished, or are now calling in their chips.

You can't wait until you are in crisis mode to inspire your employees. You can't suddenly call on a client to help you out, if you've been only a vendor in their eyes. You can't expect a landlord to delay a few months of rent payment if he doesn't even know you by name. The time to do these things are when business is going smoothly.

If life is like a giant bank account, I'm certainly making a lot of withdrawals these days. Thank God I focused on deposits when things were better...