Meet Stu Woolley
Stu Woolley, M.A., Effective Receivables, Author of “Where’s Our Cash?!”
Perhaps you’ve heard that great salespeople are born, not made. Whether that’s true or not, I can’t say. But I can tell you one thing for certain: no one was born to be an accounts receivable manager! No one came into this grumpy world of credit and cash for the expressed purpose of chasing unpaid commercial invoices. That’s a learned skill, my friends. It’s a toolbox that has to be built, tool by tool, during long years of in-the-trenches experience.
Achieving expertise in cash-recovery is like achieving expertise in any other field of endeavour: it takes time, a lot of trial’n’error education and, if you’re lucky, a few good teachers along the way. I was very lucky. I had great teachers when I was starting out. There were many insightful, generous CAs, controllers, CFOs and CEOs who taught me well. I’m grateful to each and every one of them. Thanks to their careful, patient pedagogy, I’ve never stopped learning about the ways and means of getting paid.
Money, money, money! The relationship between people and money is one of the formative modalities of human civilization. Yet, it’s never fully fixed or fully known. The often mysterious process of payment is as varied and as variable as the people who have to be “encouraged” to pay what they owe. That’s what keeps it all evergreen for me. That’s what keeps me growing into my expertise. Hardly a week goes by when I don’t have some work-related “aha-moment” about human nature vs. the almighty buck – and that goes for both sides of the payment equation. Understanding the expectations and the fears of the creditor businesses that need to get paid is just as important and rigorous as understanding the mindset of those who have to do the paying. Life is a big chessboard. Play on, my friends! But let’s play smart.
Over the course of more than 25 years, I’ve been an accounts receivable manager in business and trade magazine publishing, I’ve spent a decade as the national supervisor of A/R, credit and collections for an entertainment technology firm, and I’ve hung out my own shingle as a freelance receivables “fixer” and commercial receivables consultant. The result? Effective Receivables is the culmination of two decades of money-talk. Millions of dollars chased; millions of dollars paid. It never gets boring, the need for my expertise is never exhausted, and above all, I enjoy it.
I’m part-cashcop, part-lawyer, part-detective, part-psychotherapist. It’s engaging work, and I stay engaged. Is it always pleasant work? No. That would be too much to ask for. But doing the job right tends to reduce the unpleasantness that prevails if you get it wrong – which is why so many small and medium size businesses struggle with ineffective receivables outcomes and cashflow woes. They get it wrong. No method, no system, no expertise. A triple-threat! My sole focus is to get it right on behalf of my clients. They trust me to do what needs doing. I get it right, I make it right, and businesses get paid. And that, at the end of the day, is a very rewarding state of affairs for my clients, as well as for me as an A/R practitioner and tactician.
If you want help in moving the yardsticks in accounts receivable, I’m only an email away. Helping businesses get paid is what I do, and chances are, I can help you, too.
The next step is up to you. I’m approachable. Contact me today.