This is a strange one. It's been a very strange week indeed. The "resignation" of my business partner was the kick off along with 9 after 9 years) a threatening letter the relationship was terminated and with it came the threat to the business which is still there now he's gone.
After the shock and a response acknowledging the defection I was left with a business to try and run. I had been (fighting is not the right word) trying to get things moving but despite the business partner not being part of the business, it was his baby and I just managed it and what he wanted. The trouble was he didn't want any conflict with the supplier and he would keep changing his mind and wanting to do non-business things. I could only advise and caution but there we go, we are where we are.
When I spoke to the supplier he told me stuff that was not what I wanted to hear and the reason was he suggested a cut down version and a delay not of a short period but a further 9 months to the delivery. This after we have just voluntarily funded him to a further 50% of his original contract value and this latest late delivery was just another in a long line of failures. SO I thanked him for the information and said I'd get back to him.
Dear reader, we are already six and a half years late! The new information would make it 7 years late. I was fuming and rightly so because this was a six to eight month project in 2018! So now, free from my ex-partner who would have been (well not happy) accepting of the delay I set to with a Risk Analysis and of course, if I'm not selling the App that this guy is developing, I'm not making money for that is what the business was set up to do in 2016.
So I now have the freedom to make my feelings quite clear to the supplier and to set out his options for him. Like some mystic I've read him his future! We have paid for the Apps in full. I don't think he gets this. He is almost 7 years late on small contract and I mean you can pick up more expensive second hand cars for this money we are talking about. I've had to explain that if you have paid for something and then paid around 50% more for delivery, the last thing you need to be told a month before delivery is there is a further 9 month delay.
So I did my RAID Analysis and then explained in very simple terms and very nicely what his problems are. If you've bought something and the contract is fulfilled and you don't deliver then it's a matter of law and your rights as a buyer etc. Anyway, you get the drift I imagine if you'd paid for an item and paid in full and then were delayed by years I'm sure you wouldn't have let it go.
So he's now received both barrels and should be in no doubt what is required of him. He understands that it is unacceptable to receive money and not to actually deliver. He has remedy but I am not going to do his job for him and I've reminded him how shaky the ground is on which he treads.
Suddenly after a very stressful week the pressure is off and over to him. My business cannot survive if he doesn't deliver and if he doesn't deliver his business goes down to the depths with mine. I would love to get the business running and try this App out in the market but at the end of the day, if he doesn't deliver I cannot and so I hope he now understands the gravity of the situation. Whether he understands that he is stopping me making money and costing me money remains to be seen.
I was worried about closing the business down which I will have to if this chap doesn't deliver but at least now I am free to kick some ass and get it across the line something I am afraid I should have done a long time ago.
It is however serious but at the same time a huge relief and weight off my shoulders that I am free to run the business in the way it should have been run all along.
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