This is a very sad story and you would think that the end result could have been avoided. The company consisted of the husband that was one of the best certified software engineers the community. He made well into the six figures. He was a very pleasant person. He loved his wife and family and I guess that is why the adventure began. He and his wife decided to start a business.

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The first thing they did was design and build an office. No expense was spared. The furniture, wall and floor coverings were of the first quality with great coordination and attention to detail. It was a very pleasant place.

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I attended a networking meeting of the local Chamber of Commerce and was talking to the wife/bookkeeper of the business and asked what their marketing plan was. She blinked and said that they did not have one. Then she asked me if I would make a marketing plan for them.

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I bit my tongue and in retrospect I should have asked why did you start building your office before you had a business plan that included a marketing plan.

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I agreed to make a plan and set up an appointment to talk to them about the plan and how to do it. So when I showed up with my documents everyone was there except the owner. I was puzzled by this and over the next few weeks most of the meetings to explain the plan did not include the owner. So after getting paid for the plan and weekly meetings I was being asked to makes sales calls.

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My agreement with you was to write a marketing plan and then train everyone on the plan. I did not agree to become their salesperson. Their customers wanted to talk to the software expert not the sales person.

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This was something that the nice people had never been confronted with or plan for. The sad part of the story is that they had spent 300k by this time with no revenue in sight. The company eventually went out of business. 

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There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from this story but the main lesson is never start a business with out two things. The first you must have a business plan and second you must have an advisory group of people.

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Your advisors need to have different skills and personality types from your own. Your advisors can then give you a heads up. To bring things that make you vulnerable to your attention.