I was having a conversation with a friend about some clients that she was having a situation with. I don't want to go into details. The thing that struck me about the conversation was that she said her only interest was that she only wanted to get paid. The clients that she was wanting to only get paid from could potentially cause more harm than good. Her business of integrity is lacking.
We do things in business just to get paid and not look at the big picture. Some clients we should fire if we were honest with ourselves. However when you get under the gun and in need of money we settle for taking things from clients and think of ways to cut corners. These are the things that test our moral fiber.
It got me to thinking about having integrity in your business.
About 15 years ago I was just starting out in my pager and cellphone business. The business was starting to grow. We were getting a good foundation of customers.
One of my employees talked me into over charging some of my clients for overages on their pager bills. I thought that it was OK in my mind because I knew that they obtained their money illegally. So the price shouldn't matter to them.
One of my clients called me on it. I was busted and stopped overcharging those clients. Now that I look back I lost out in the long run. The clients did not stay. My business had lost it's integrity.
It never dawned on me that could be the reason that they stopped paying their bill. I lost more than I gained. The longevity of the potential income coming in was more than just a few bucks each month. When your business of integrity is gone you have a sinking ship.
When you have employees who lack integrity you need to fire them right away. They will poison your business. Going beyond firing a employee you need to be asking those types of questions when you are in the interview process. Needless to say that employee didn't stay in my business much longer. I learned a valuable lesson about wanting to beat people. It can back to you. When it comes back it really hurts.
When we do things in our business we set in motion a sowing and reaping into action. Whether it is good or bad things come back to us.
I often wondered why things were not working out in my business. My lack of integrity set in motion some actions that I was going to have to pay the price for doing them. Being honest in your business is the best policy.
I have come to the conclusion that all money is not good money. When I am tempted to do things that go against my integrity I need to stop and look at the big picture. Not all clients need to be my clients. I'm not saying that they are bad people but they may be bad for my business. When they become co-dependent relationships they need to end.
Wanting to get paid no matter what can be very dangerous. I would much rather lose the business and sleep well at night than lose my integrity and the situation haunt me later.
My friends situation may die down. But the can of worms that she opened by just wanting to get paid could cause her to lose her business.
Do you have a business of integrity???
Your finanical coach,
Renee Lawson
