I lay there gasping for breath.
It was pitch black.
I had no idea where I was.
Or why I felt the way I did.
Then I realised ...
It was the middle of the bloody night and I was in bed.
I'd had a nightmare.
From what I could remember, I was running to the station to catch a soon to leave train. And I was being pursued by something nasty. Something hungry.
But as you know with these 'dreams', you can never run fast enough. It's like you're running through quicksand.
I wasn't fast enough.
The train departed and I got caught. And woke up.
It's been suggested dreams act as a metaphor.
In my case, running out of time to do something?? I don't know. But I do know this was playing on my mind before I fell asleep ...
Recently we met with a prospect. A lovely lady looking for help with bookkeeping and CIS compliance.
She was a Xero user but wasn't quite where she needed to be with record keeping. We could help get things into shape, no problem.
But when it came to CIS Compliance, we discovered something odd.
She was currently using another provider, but it turned out she wasn't quite getting the service she was after.
Or as covered as she would have hoped.
In fact, she wasn't covered at all. And if she'd been investigated by HMRC she may well have been in a spot of bother.
We discovered this later after the meeting but far too late to inform her.
It would have to wait till the next day.
I can only presume that's why I was having such horrid dreams.
A feeling of time running out.
The next we informed her as soon as we could, and began the simple steps of getting her business covered.
Our advice would be to read the fine print of any contract, and have someone else - a solicitor perhaps - give it a final once over.
This will cost, of course, but when it comes to CIS Compliance, the cost of getting caught without the necessary cover could be a whole lot more expensive.
Best, Lindsey