Page 132 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

maintenance, logistics, storage or any of the problems that
manufacturing businesses have.’
‘Yes, but you don’t have any assets.’
‘I know; we have very low overheads in comparison to our
turnover.’
‘Yes, but there’s no security for a bank. What can you offer us
as security if there are no assets?’
‘The security I can offer you is that in a couple of months my
cash flow will have massively increased.’
It wasn’t enough: without any assets to secure the loan, I
couldn’t get a bank to back me.
By and large I found accountants equally unhelpful. I would
phone up wanting advice, but they would simply give me the
options and then say, ‘So what would you like to do?’
‘I want you to tell me what’s best.’
‘All I can do is give you the options. The decision has to be
yours.’
‘Yes, but which is the best option for me?’
‘That depends on your circumstances.’
It drove me nuts: What was I paying them for?
The worst were the lawyers. I learned very quickly that lawyers
never make decisions or recommendations. What lawyers do is
draft documents based on what you tell them. It was a big
disappointment because I’d assumed that if I had a legal problem
I’d go off to my legal firm and they’d sort it. However, at the end
of the day it doesn’t really matter to the lawyer what the outcome
of a legal situation is because he makes his fee anyway. The minute
I sat down and talked to him, the clock was ticking, and the longer
I asked questions, the more money he made.
When you ask lawyers for an opinion, they never give you one.
What they do is present you with the facts, and leave the decision
up to you. I used to walk away from meetings thinking: What am
I paying them £100 an hour for? What was frustrating was that I

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