The $7,500 Lesson That Cost Me More Than $7,500

Years ago, I made a BIG mistake in my business.

And the hardest part?

I knew better.

I took on a client when my intuition was already telling me there were red flags. I allowed excuses. I bent my own boundaries. I made exceptions I normally wouldn't make.

I told myself I was being understanding to their situation. I told myself it would be fine. It wasn't.

In the end, she didn't pay me $7,500 that she owed me.

But honestly, the $7,500 wasn't the greatest cost.

The greatest cost was my time, mental energy, emotional bandwidth and peace spent dealing with the excuses, following up, trying to resolve the situation and questioning why I had allowed myself to get there in the first place.

(way more than $7,500)

And that's the part of business we don't talk about enough.

Not all revenue is worth having.

Not all revenue has the same 'value'.

We generally don't calculate the energy we lose trying to manage a relationship that was misaligned from the beginning.

And sometimes we don't calculate the biggest cost of all:

What happens inside of us when we knowingly violate our own standards. We second-guess ourselves, we dance around the breached agreements, and we apologize for upholding the agreements,

That was my real lesson.

BECAUSE -

• My intuition wasn't wrong.

• My boundaries weren't too rigid.

• My standards weren't unreasonable.

I simply didn't honor them.

And that is a leadership lesson I carry forward.

Being a Business Owner isn't just about knowing when to say yes.

• It's knowing when to say no.

• It's knowing when the money isn't worth the cost.

• It's trusting the quiet voice that recognizes misalignment before you have the evidence to prove it.

• It's understanding that protecting your energy isn't selfish.

It is business strategy.

Today, I still think of the $7,500 lesson as a critical reminder.

The lesson reminds me to see what actually holds more value than the 'money'.

And That Is...

• My intuition is an asset.

• My boundaries are an asset.

• My time is an asset.

• My energy is an asset.

And I vowed I would never again measure the 'value of a client' solely by what they are willing to pay me. (Besides, that's a scarcity based mindset - which is essentially viewing a client as a transaction. Ick.)

The right client doesn't just bring revenue.

They bring alignment, trust, respect, energy and mutual value. A true win-win relationship.

And that's the kind of business I committed to building.

In Wellness & Wealth,

Kimberly Rolandson