{"id":447,"date":"2020-03-30T00:45:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T00:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/?p=447"},"modified":"2022-12-20T20:23:44","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T20:23:44","slug":"lemonade-anyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Lemonade Anyone"},"content":{"rendered":"

My thoughts on credit markets, sage philosophy and serendipitous financial solutions- not necessarily in this order<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

Recently, during a visit with a prospective client, we were in the middle of a very productive conversation regarding the state of his business and I asked him what I thought was a very good question:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat about your business keeps you up at night?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now\u2026 usual answers to this question vary from person to person, but usually center around the following topics:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Cash flow<\/li>\n
  2. Employee fraud or theft<\/li>\n
  3. Profitability<\/li>\n
  4. Sourcing increased revenue<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    His answer was pretty blunt:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMy customers are killing me!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0More on this shortly, but it brings me to the sage philosophy part of this blog\u2026<\/p>\n

    Quickly following the \u201cgolden rule\u201d of \u201cdo unto others as you would have them do unto you\u201d comes the time tested (age old) adage of \u201cDon\u2019t bite the hand that feeds you\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0I can\u2019t say I know who first uttered this phase, or when exactly is was uttered, but since then (whenever it was) it is the kind of fundamental life truth that makes complete sense to almost everyone because at its core, it involves self preservation and survival.\u00a0\u00a0I can\u2019t think of anyone that I know that would not identify and agree with it.<\/p>\n

    Now, back to the conversation with my prospective client\u2026He went on to explain that he has significant portions of his annual sales (and accounts receivable) concentrated in a handful of fortune 500 firms.<\/p>\n

    At first blush, my thoughts were that this is not out of the ordinary, and may tend to mitigate some of the credit risk present in his accounts receivable portfolio because he is selling to well known, highly regarded, stable companies with readily available financial statements and credit information.<\/p>\n

    There are two (2) sides to every coin, and this one is no different:
    \nIn our conversation, I was told that these companies \u201cpay when they feel like it, regardless of their stated terms\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0He went on to say \u201cI have talked to Vice Presidents, Senior Vice Presidents and Regional Directors.\u00a0\u00a0In some cases, I was able to get them to bring me current\u2026then they stopped buying for about 30 days\u2026I suppose to teach me a lesson\u2026it did and cost me $40-$50,000 in revenue.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m between a rock and a hard place.\u00a0\u00a0Can you help me with this?\u201d
    \nTo re-visit the sage philosophy angle:\u00a0\u00a0What do you do when \u201cthe hand that feeds you\u201d, feeds you lemons?<\/p>\n

    Here is what I really love about my practice\u2026the opportunity to make lemonade for my clients out of their lemons.<\/p>\n

    A few days after I met with this potential client I received the April, 2010 edition of CFO Magazine in the mail.\u00a0\u00a0While paging through, I came across a very informative article by Vincent Ryan in the credit & capital section titled\u00a0Lien on Me.<\/em> \u00a0This article seemed to be written specifically for me.\u00a0\u00a0In it Vincent Ryan Let’s\u00a0 by turning to receivables.\u00a0\u00a0Among them:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Asset based lending secured by working capital components (receivables and inventory).<\/li>\n
    2. Factoring (without recourse).<\/li>\n
    3. A hybrid approach combining an asset based lending features with a factoring arrangement on a with recourse basis.<\/li>\n
    4. Auctioning of receivables to the highest bidder using today\u2019s internet based website technology.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      This potential client agreed to have me perform a Phase 1 analysis of his company and I have some new and some not so new tools to potentially apply to his situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      My thoughts on credit markets, sage philosophy and serendipitous financial solutions- not necessarily in this order Recently, during a visit with a prospective client, we were in the middle of a very productive conversation regarding the state of his business and I asked him what I thought was a very good question:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat about your business…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLemonade Anyone - Brian Christian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Let's explore several ways that CFOs can fill financing and liquidity gaps.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lemonade Anyone - Brian Christian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let's explore several ways that CFOs can fill financing and liquidity gaps.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brian Christian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-30T00:45:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-20T20:23:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Christian\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brian Christian\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/lemonade-anyone\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/lemonade-anyone\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brian Christian\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ee66953623f3af04e9b552693356e8c9\"},\"headline\":\"Lemonade Anyone\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-30T00:45:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-20T20:23:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/lemonade-anyone\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":578,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/lemonade-anyone\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/lemonade-anyone\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/lemonade-anyone\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lemonade Anyone - Brian Christian\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-30T00:45:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-20T20:23:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ee66953623f3af04e9b552693356e8c9\"},\"description\":\"Let's explore several ways that CFOs can fill financing and liquidity gaps.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/lemonade-anyone\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/lemonade-anyone\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/lemonade-anyone\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lemonade Anyone\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/\",\"name\":\"Brian Christian\",\"description\":\"B2B CFO\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ee66953623f3af04e9b552693356e8c9\",\"name\":\"Brian Christian\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/df2329c46968aa7ac5a5a44b4df6ea8f88ec8f7ce1ec6fa92d00a08e45132b08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/df2329c46968aa7ac5a5a44b4df6ea8f88ec8f7ce1ec6fa92d00a08e45132b08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/df2329c46968aa7ac5a5a44b4df6ea8f88ec8f7ce1ec6fa92d00a08e45132b08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brian Christian\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.b2bcfo.com\\\/brian-christian\\\/author\\\/bchristian\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lemonade Anyone - Brian Christian","description":"Let's explore several ways that CFOs can fill financing and liquidity gaps.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lemonade Anyone - Brian Christian","og_description":"Let's explore several ways that CFOs can fill financing and liquidity gaps.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/","og_site_name":"Brian Christian","article_published_time":"2020-03-30T00:45:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-20T20:23:44+00:00","author":"Brian Christian","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brian Christian","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/"},"author":{"name":"Brian Christian","@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/#\/schema\/person\/ee66953623f3af04e9b552693356e8c9"},"headline":"Lemonade Anyone","datePublished":"2020-03-30T00:45:04+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-20T20:23:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/"},"wordCount":578,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/","url":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/","name":"Lemonade Anyone - Brian Christian","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-03-30T00:45:04+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-20T20:23:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/#\/schema\/person\/ee66953623f3af04e9b552693356e8c9"},"description":"Let's explore several ways that CFOs can fill financing and liquidity gaps.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/lemonade-anyone\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lemonade Anyone"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/","name":"Brian Christian","description":"B2B CFO","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/#\/schema\/person\/ee66953623f3af04e9b552693356e8c9","name":"Brian Christian","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df2329c46968aa7ac5a5a44b4df6ea8f88ec8f7ce1ec6fa92d00a08e45132b08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df2329c46968aa7ac5a5a44b4df6ea8f88ec8f7ce1ec6fa92d00a08e45132b08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/df2329c46968aa7ac5a5a44b4df6ea8f88ec8f7ce1ec6fa92d00a08e45132b08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brian Christian"},"url":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/author\/bchristian\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2371,"href":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447\/revisions\/2371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/brian-christian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}