Page 57 - Paulisms: Gold Nuggets for Small Business

combination of a matrix and wors. After weeks of discussion with various people, it now all became clearer to my friend.
Without crystallising the model in writing, it slows down progress towards getting started. It is so important to get your model right and particularly know very clearly what it looks like before you start your journey. You have to consider where you are going to finish. Until we crystallise our thinking in writing, a start had not really began.
I am a visual person and I find putting things into a table or matrix makes things so much clearer to understand, rather than a whole lot of text. In a blink you can see the overall picture. Whenever we are unsure of something or struggling to communicate verbally, or need to influence someone, put it in writing. Writing crystallises your thinking!
2.5.2 Confirming in writing
It is very important to confirm things in writing, particularly in contract law where if you haven’t got something in writing it doesn’t stand up when issues develop. People can debate that if it was discussed, it is a contract. However, if there are any changes or there are important facts to note, it’s always important to confirm it in writing. I know a lot of people over the years came back to us with invoices who said, ‘Blah blah blah, you agreed to do this.’ I would say, ‘Well, there’s nothing in writing. We haven’t agreed to this alteration and cannot pay. Sorry.’ It was the same when we were contracting. If we did not put something in writing for extras or alterations, companies just would not pay if they hadn’t approved it. That’s contracting!