The Power of One - it's unhealthy!

One of my mentoring clients, who runs a big training organisation, told me that his biggest client - worth more than 60% of their business - suddenly decided one day to build a big in-house training centre for their people. My client was suddenly left with a gaping hole in his cash flow and profitability.

I was reminded of this recently when I heard that Microsoft announced it would make free anti-virus software available for its users. I wondered what security software companies like Symantec and McAfee would say. Sure enough, David Hall, who is Symantec’s Product Manager in the Asia-Pacific region, came out fighting today, claiming that Microsoft's solution is inadequate - even calling it "dangerous". Maybe it's true; maybe it's bluster. Either way, it shows they're concerned.

What would you do if your biggest income source suddenly disappeared? For many employees, this is exactly what's happening now, when they lost their jobs due to the recession. Business owners are better protected, because we usually have more than one person paying us. But are you over-reliant on one client, one method of delivery, one strategic alliance, one market niche, or one product?