In the past I've tried any number of initiatives to reduce this sixteen-month lag but of late I've come to accept that it's an immutable part of the industry I work in. Understanding (and accepting) 'time-to-job' has empowered me in a lot of different ways.
- It has a relaxing effect when I mention it to clients - I'm not going to pester individuals to force the pace on decision cycles
- It gives me a very clear link between client list and cash flow
- It forces me to face up to the fact that the only way for me to force the pace of growth is to have as many clients as possible - all at different stages of that sixteen-month cycle
Another positive effect is that it stops me from fretting (too much) over unreturned emails. It helps if you can accept that that unreturned emails from a potential client and unsolicited approaches from unknown ones are two sides of the same karmic coin.
