There is recurring line in the Godfather movies that is a gem.

Whenever a family transgressor is about to be whacked, his old pal, turned executioner, says, Its not personal; its business.

I had to remind myself of this as one of my clients was having a cash crunch and couldnt pay me on time.

Over a twenty-plus year consulting career, Ive had a few slow-paying businesses on my books, but really, not very many given the overall number of contracts Ive performed.

But now that Im doing coaching for smaller enterprises, in addition to the larger company consulting assignments, Im part of a more delicate ecosystem. When one of my customers customers doesnt come through on time, its affecting me, something that never happened with Xerox or DuPont.

I had to catch myself, momentarily, before I lapsed into taking this personally. I was hearing myself think, Gee, this is flaky; Ive never had to put up with this before!

Then, I remembered the time a Fortune 500 company strung me out for 100 days without payment. Headquartered over two thousand miles from me, there was no way I could drop in and see anybody about the tardiness.

So, I contacted my Uncle Jack, a distinguished attorney in that city, and he made a call for me, to find out what was up, and when my check would be forthcoming.

No problem! they replied. Well get it out right away!

I think they were a little shocked that I reached out that way for help.

Hey, there was nothing personal about it; only business!