Fan or not, The Walt Disney Company is widely successful. Even with a few movie flops and challenges in management, things have definitely turned around for the better with Bob Iger as their CEO since 2004.  Recently, Iger released a memoir entitled, "The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company". Within the pages are intriguing stories and messages of inspiration for any business owner. He details his steps up the ladder at ABC, Disney's acquisition of Pixar and his relationship with Steve Jobs, acquiring Marvel and Lucasfilm, and opening more Disney parks across the world.

Let's examine some top business leadership lessons from Disney's CEO.

If this blog is anything, we hope that it's helpful to small and growing businesses. Our focus is intended to offer education on getting organized, retaining clients and ensuring that your invoices are paid in a timely manner.  

We've reviewed the most popular blog posts and topics so that we can bring more of the same to our readers. If you have any suggestions, please leave us a comment so we continue bringing you helpful tips to employ in your business.

Top B2B & Debt Collections Blogs

In many growing companies, sales teams acknowledge new business with a mini-celebration. Every little bit of encouragement helps when business development seems to be working. After the celebration, the rest of the organization prepares to bring on the new client. Accounting sets them up as a new customer, product gets shipped or the agreed-upon service is provided. An invoice is subsequently sent to the client and the wait begins. 

What happens when customers pay late or not at all? What then?

If the thought of an uncomfortable meeting with your client makes your stomach hurt, you're probably already shuddering at the title of this post. Invoice disputes usually mean that the client owes you money and is simply unwilling to pay what you're asking. Is it possible to figure out a solution to this situation with an in-person meeting? 

Should you handle an invoice dispute in person?

The weather has turned colder, holiday shoppers are looking for gift ideas and your Accounting team is cleaning up year-end finances. It's during this time of the year that they're taking a closer look at unpaid accounts receivable invoices and deciding what to do.  Before taking a financial loss, there may still be an opportunity to collect on some outstanding accounts. Read on to determine what to do next. 

Should your business write off bad debt at the end of the year?

No one goes into a relationship, business or otherwise, planning how to end it. Firing a client is an unfortunate necessity when things go terribly wrong. The first thing to determine is your last straw. This client may be:

• consistently asking for services beyond the scope of the contract.
• pushing back on everything they're paying you for.
• difficult to work with.
• not paying you for all of the work you've already done.

Now that you know you've had enough, do you know what to do next?

Here's what to say and do when you're firing a client.

While it's easy to be overwhelmed during the year with business to-do's, your clients are the reason you have a business to begin with! You don't have to wait until the holidays to show them that they are appreciated. Gratitude can be practiced all year long and will help build a strong foundation for any challenges that may arise. Gratitude reminds your clients that they are appreciated.

Here are some of the best ways to show gratitude and help client retention.

Your goal is to run a successful business and that means creating strong relationships with your clients. During the sales process, your business is going all out to impress and that positive impression may last for a few months. After a while, you and your clients may hit a period of leveling out and, even more serious, discontent. Just as with any relationship, it can be challenging to maintain happy, long term clients.

For agencies, freelancers, sales and more, here are best practices to creating a business client relationship that lasts.

When a client owes you money, any interaction can be strained or even awkward. You want to maintain a good quality business relationship but you also have to talk about money... and that can be an uncomfortable conversation. While there are no guarantees that your clients will always pay on time, there are some things that you can do to get them to pay faster. 

10 ways to get your clients to pay their invoices faster.

One of my closest friends is "hanging out her shingle" as an independent after spending her entire career working for large corporations. We've always texted fairly regularly but our conversations lately are less about our kids and more about self-employment taxes and setting up accounting software. To leave the relative comfort and paycheck predictability of the employee life is no joke and has me revisiting my own brave step into the world of entrepreneurship. 

Becoming an entrepreneur means facing real fears. Here are some ways to push past the fear and do it anyway.