I run a full-service online advertising agency with a focus on lead generation and affiliate marketing. In 2008, we were hit for over $300,000 by one of our clients.
We had been working with this client for a number of years with no problems. But after a while his credit line got out of control, and he wasn't paying on time. Eventually, he skipped town and moved to Peru, which makes it virtually impossible to get any of the money back.
This wasn't easy for us. We had to use lines of credit intended to grow the company to pay our vendors. But we came out of it much stronger and smarter.
Just because someone scams you doesn't mean that you don't know how to conduct business. Now we don't extend credit beyond more than $30,000 to $40,000. And we don't hesitate to stop working with a client if they get behind on their payments. We are proof that if you learn from your mistakes, you can come out of a situation like this.
Diann Cattani's embezzlement of a small business started off as an innocent mistake and then quickly got out of control.
