All too often I hear stories from people who have had friendships, marriages, and even family relationships destroyed by a breach of trust. This is also true for business
relationships. You trust someone to pay you on time (or even at all!), you trust another to keep your confidential information safe. We even sign contracts between individuals and corporations to ensure that these things happen. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.Admittedly, in most situations, individuals, and the companies that they might represent, are honest and trustworthy. There are, however, a few people out there who, whether it is willingly or unintentional, have a propensity for dishonesty. They may have good intentions, and circumstances out of their control may cause them to break the trust bond, however, on the other hand, they may intentionally misrepresent themselves with designs to cheat you from the beginning of your relationship. Your job, as a home-based business owner, is to identify and avoid these individuals. So how do you go about do that?
Although it is almost impossible to pick out a bad apple from the bushel without actually taking a bite of one, you do have one very effective built-in defence system -- good old fashioned gut instinct. Before you agree to begin any type of business relationship with someone, ask yourself, do you feel unsure about dealing with this person? Do they make you feel uncomfortable? Is there something nagging you in the back of your mind, sending warning signals that something might be wrong? If you answered yes to any of these questions, my advice is to tread carefully.
Not to be ignored, gut reaction is "an immediate and instinctive reaction, rather than a well-thought-out response," (source: Webster's Dictionary). While it is oftentimes argued that gut feelings do not bear any real truth, in very simplistic form, it has been scientifically proven that if your unconscious brain perceives any real danger, it will send warning signals to the digestive tract. This can be characterized as "butterflies in your stomach" or a general upset feeling in the abdomen, and although usually thought to be brought on when stress is induced, it can also be felt during situations which involve impending danger.
This is not to say that everyone you feel might be deceitful is, in fact, dishonest – it is more of a caveat. If you have a 'gut feeling' that someone might not be as honourable as they purport to be, choose your actions carefully. I have fallen victim to this on a couple of separate occasions, and I would like to share one of the more devastating situations. The story is a lengthy one, stretching over nearly two years, and still elicits feelings of embarrassment and regret, but I will try to impart the wisdom of the error of my ways in as brief and unemotional manner as possible.
One of my VIP clients had just expanded his empire by hiring a marketing consulting company, whom at first glance, seemed absolutely brilliant, professional and completely trustworthy. They came with glowing reviews and outstanding testimonials and references from previous clients -- you know the type. It was my job to work with the marketing team on a very up-close and personal basis, and in doing so, we formed a very cozy business relationship, which bordered on friendship.
I began to feel as though I could trust these people implicitly and even began working with them for their other clients. This continued for about a year, and during that time, their projects became so time consuming that I actually had to turn down outside work requests. Keep in mind that all throughout this time, my relationship was strictly with the marketing company, as we had a verbal agreement that I was not to contact any of their other clients directly. I fully respected that agreement.
It was when they began to hold back payment on invoices until projects were fully completed that the warning bells began to sound, and yet, I ignored my gut feelings, and my trust in their promises remained steadfast.
Over the course of the next year, the business relationship between the marketing company and my VIP client who originally introduced us began to crumble. In amongst all the dust and debris, the marketing team was very successful in convincing me that it was 'not their fault'and that I should continue to do business with them. Given that the disagreement between the two parties had zero involvement on my part, I continued to work with both companies in the same capacity as I had been doing in the past.
What I was not aware of, however, was that the marketing company was surreptitiously disparaging my reputation with my VIP client, laying blame for all of their misdeeds and mistakes on me, and effectively causing a rift between me and my VIP client. It was not until the damage had already been done that I was made privy to the false accusations.
Furthermore, and without warning, the marketing company decided that they were no longer responsible for paying me, and that I was supposed to have been invoicing their clients directly for work performed. (Huh? How on earth would I be able to do that if I was strictly forbidden from contacting them directly?) But I digress.
I'm sure you can probably piece together the remainder of the puzzle. Almost overnight, I found myself the victim of a first-class, very slick hustler, resulting in the loss of not only payment for invoices amounting to thousands of dollars, but the steady income of my VIP client. All because I placed too much trust in the care of one individual. It wasn't until months later that I discovered I was not the only one duped by this company. After doing some investigation, I uncovered many, many others that had been betrayed in much the same capacity.
The bottom line is this: if you are going to operate a home-based business, chances are you will be faced with similar situations where you will find yourself at a fork in the road. You will need to decide whether to go left or right, and in doing so, you may also be making the decision to trust one person over another. Follow your gut feeling. Trust your instinct. And for heaven sake, do not allow yourself to fall into pit of snakes that I did.
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