New England Sun-Times

The ideas you have to help your clients solve tough business problems are great—except when you don’t get paid for them. That statement summed up Deidre’s problem. Deidre is a brand consultant, a really good one. But she would often go through periods of struggle—secretly because she never wanted any of her clients and prospects to think she wasn’t a success. It was a secret she’d been keeping since she started her business almost ten years ago. An ulcer gives birth to a new business Back then, she quit her corporate job as a branding specialist to escape a toxic work environment, one that had literally given her an ulcer. To guarantee her next workplace would be easy on her tummy, she decided to open up her own brand consulting practice. She did a great job of branding herself (surprise, surprise), which helped make sure her phone rang frequently. Unfortunately she often had trouble turning those callers into clients. Her unpaid bills would pile up like little haystacks on her