Choose your Allies Carefully
This is one blog post that I’m sure is a very touchy subject. I’ve spoken to a lot of entrepreneurs who have all admitted being burned in the past which have usually occurred at the outset of their entrepreneurial life. This is exactly what happened to me back in 2008. When you start out in something new you tend to trust everyone around you and have a false sense of security by dealing with some people you’ve come to know on a very personal level. I hate to say it but these kinds of people can be extremely deceiving and can potentially ruin your business.
I’ve met a lot of interesting people so far in my life when it comes to business. Many of these people have the “answer” to everything. They feel so confident in their products or services that they’ve even convinced themselves of many false things. I hate to say it but just because you incorporate a business, create a logo and slap up a website doesn’t mean you’re an expert at anything.
I got taken for $9,000 in my first year of business because of the things I spoke about above. There were a lot of ethical issues with the whole situation today that should have caught my attention but I never did catch on. In 2008 it was an extremely tough year for me so I thought that there must be quick fixes to my problem. Here I had thousands of dollars in the bank and I was ready to hire an expert.
This person came along with the golden marketing planet. It was full proof. It was going to generate more business for me than I could ever imagine. What did $9,000 end up getting me?
- 2 big boxes of books
- Tons of templates
- Some audio CD’s from a guy I’ve never heard of before
- A crappy guarantee letter
I will start with the crappy guarantee letter. The guarantee was that if I didn’t have results I would get my money back. But the way the guarantee was laid out put all of the onus on ME rather than on the consultant. In addition, you were set up to fail from the beginning. The coaching sessions were more like berating sessions than actual progressive meetings. It was a really bad situation.
The big boxes of books were full of templates. It had sales letters, marketing materials and a lot of stuff that was to be used to be customized for my business. The $9,000 basically gave me a ton of templates that I had to fill out. As many of you starting out find out, you really don’t have time to do that stuff. You need to hire people to help you out and I recommended finding an all-star marketing person who can do this for you rather than trying to be an expert at everything.
The audio CD’s were, well, they were garbage. I love listening to audiobooks by Stephen Covey or other Dale Carnegie type audio’s but these were simply no good. They were short and just missed the point.
Now, this person ended up referring clients to me in the end which probably paid for the $9,000. The sad thing is that those same customers went through the same experience, and they are all customers of mine to this day, but we all feel the same in the let down. I actually keep the 2 big boxes of books near my desk at my office as a stark reminder of that expensive lesson. I know others do as well.
So basically, my point of choosing allies is be careful. They may seem good on the outside and may be a nice person but at the end of the day business is business and you need RESULTS. Experience is extremely important and having a strong ethic proposition is important too.
I’m the type of person that works incredibly well with a strong handshake. I notice when people make commitments and don’t deliver when they say they will. I also accept that I’m not perfect either. But I am 100% ethical and respectful in my business dealings so I try to make an effort to treat people the way that I’d want to be treated.
But if I am betrayed once, I’m not usually a nice guy to deal with. I’m extremely forgiving but when someone attempts or sometimes succeeds in cheating me it gets ugly.
But to recap:
- Avoid the “consultant” programs unless you’ve found a very very experienced individual with lots of references to back their work up.
- When you’re starting out, you might be anxious to find the quick fix like I tried but really, take a step back and see how you can deploy your resources more appropriately
- Finally, hire a good lawyer. I did and haven’t looked back.
