How old of an invoice is too old?

I’m a bad bookkeeper, but this is ridiculous.

Which is worse:

1. Stubbing your toe in just the wrong spot. Really hard.
2. Getting a popcorn kernel stuck in between your teeth to the point where you’re contemplating molar extraction.
3. Receiving an invoice from a company you haven’t even heard from in over a year, for services done before even that.

Here’s the bottom line and I just figured this out this year:

I really shouldn’t be running a business.

I’m actually smiling as I write this as I’ve come to terms with this. It’s even “lightening” to say it, to admit it, to even think it aloud. It’s the end of an era, it’s time to move on, it’s time to realize that I really shouldn’t be worrying about bookkeeping because, let’s face it, I’m still as bad as I was 10 years ago.

I need to write a post titled something like, “The best way to make your business thrive is to try to kill it.” Maybe it’s like a weed: I poison, I dig, I pull, but it comes back. If I ignore it, it goes away. Aha, but maybe because I’m ignoring it, I’m just not noticing it. OK, OK, maybe not a perfect analogy.

But the further I distance myself from my darling business, the better things go. I swear, there must be some nugget of business wisdom in here.

So yes, I sent an invoice to an old client with a list of the past 5 years of hosting services “overdue” (of course it helps if you know they’re due at some point to later become overdue) and … I haven’t exactly heard back from her yet. We’ll see what happens.

But there’s light in the air. I think it’s the feeling of letting go. Maybe it’s my dollars floating in the sky. Maybe they’re flittering away from me. Maybe there’s a big storm coming that’s going to dump … more dollars my way. I’m not going to even look for them. I’m not going to expect. I’m just going to go about my path, my future, and leave bookkeeping to … the bookkeepers.