Money over everything? Nope!

So, recently I was approached by a person who offered money for promotional services. The first thing that was mentioned was money. I own a business, yes, but I am not a business man. At least not a great one. I cannot put money over everything. Don't get me wrong I like making money. I do! However, I am not willing to work with just anyone. There has to be a foundation built on some level. A lot of people I decide to work with are people that I happen to run into in various places. I like this avenue and it allows me to work with people who I can relate to. It's more important to me to have a trusted relationship than to make money. Maybe I will never succeed in the business world operating in this fashion and that's okay. I like to think that by not focusing solely on money I have a better chance at being a successful person.

Working with this particular individual would have possibly forced me to sway a little bit from how I like to operate. I could not comfortably promote this individual. Along with the relationship that is built there has to be a value to what is being promoted. In my eyes the product was not at a level that I would like to be associated with. I have to be subjective in what I promote. If it's something that is lacking a positive impact the product has to be great. This product was not great and I assume that is why money was the first topic spoken about. Not a good sign. I will have to set a standard for people to understand where my drive comes from. I wish this individual luck, but I feel that we would not gel well.

Morals over everything!

Saying "No"

Why is it so hard to give people a no? Is it because we don't want to hurt others feelings or because we somehow feel obligated to give a yes and make people happy? The reason I ask is because I was recently speaking with a local business owner and we had a conversation about instead of people giving us a no they will instead not respond at all. I for one think that it is more deflating and time consuming when you are trying to reach out to someone and the response is dead air. I just don't get it!

For instance, if I'm trying to set up a local live musical performance and I select a venue. Usually they have a booking page on their website for you to contact them. So many times I have sent an email or called and left a message with no returned correspondence. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a booking section? A simple, "Sorry, but we will not be able to hold your event." would suffice.

This isn't the only scenario that this happens. Sometimes it's a deal where someone makes an agreement and then rather than man up and tell you they have had a change of heart they ignore you. This happens with friends or supposed friends as well so I really have a hard time understanding these occurrences. Sometimes I think that it must be me and no matter how friendly people say I am I just don't get the desired response from others. Then again, as I said above I was speaking with another business owner who was having the same issues. I just don't get!