Clients on Retainer: How Good Business Can Go Bad

Most service businesses use projects as their main path to client work. The problem with projects, however, is that they are often lumpy. You work hard to win a deal. You and your team work like crazy to deliver the work for clients. You get paid. And then the cycle continues—feast and famine.

The unpredictability of the revenue and the work itself makes it hard to balance staff costs and assignments with monies received. If you're not careful, you can easily go from profit to loss in just a couple of weeks.