We Are a Small Business, Supporting Small Businesses

One thing you should know about my business is that we are a small business, supporting other small businesses. I am extremely passionate about supporting other small businesses.

And I have a confession. In the past, I’ve done whatever I could, no matter the cost to myself to help someone. It didn’t matter if I lost money, or I was totally doing 3X what I said I’d do in my contract- I’d do it. Because I’m a helper.

Here’s the thing that I learned about that. I was doing myself a HUGE disservice, and I was doing my team a huge disservice. I created a situation where I had trouble paying bills, where I was up working a million hours a day, and I was running myself off the rails.

And don’t forget to mention — I was hiring people- who I was paying more than I made on some clients- and losing money- AND get this- the people I hired saw me as Mrs. Money Bags, so I could AFFORD to pay them whatever, and I would still have plenty of money left over. And they’d do crappy work, and it was a whole cycle.

It wasn’t working very well for me. OK. It wasn’t working at all. What a pain.

Trying to do the right thing, and getting burned. Clients expecting me to work for a fraction of what it actually costs to provide good service. Clients expecting me to discount…