Have you ever heard the expression “If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, its a duck?”
It has taken me longer in my life to learn that lesson that it probably should have. That applies to my business life as well. It is very important to listen closely when your intuition tells you something.
Recently, I had a client for printing and graphic design, that I just had a bad feeling about. However, I talked myself out of doing anything about it, after all, it was just a “feeling” and, I told myself, maybe he is just not my kind of person, doesn’t mean he isn’t a good person, just not my style. Which is not all that bad of a rationalization really, because I don’t think you should base you actions ONLY on intuition – just listen carefully and act accordingly. What I should have done was taken some reasonable steps to protect myself – which I could have done. Instead I talked myself out of doing anything, because deep down, I really want to believe that everybody is nice, keeps their promises, pays their bills and if I treat them with integrity, they in turn will treat me the same way.
Alas, I have found to my very great disappointment that this is not true. This particular lesson cost me $1600 and a lot of frustration – ouch! I will be more careful in the future.
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