No Exceptions

Today held one of those large life-reflective moments.

On the appraisal side of my business, I had this client that I held above the other clients. I would give their work priority. I did some work at a discounted rate. And I communicated with them at a five-star level.

This morning they told me that they wanted a six month separation.

Maybe I should have been sad. I was actually angrily irritated, or mad. I was mad.

I’ve done this in the past with people, but never a business. I have such a high version of them in my head that I compromise my boundaries for them. And for what? No one asked me to. And there really was no real reason to do this.

But, here I had done it again. I had held this company to a higher ideal. I thought they were more special. They aren’t. They didn’t care about the quality of the appraisals that I turned in. They cared about how quick I could get the report back. Newsflash – sometimes quality takes time.

I personally have had a crappy appraisal done on my properties. And as a real estate broker I have had clients that have been negatively affected by a crappy appraisal – I have a client right now dealing with that. And when I am completing an appraisal, I want to have it right. It takes time to research, to ask questions, and to find out information. Sure I make mistakes. But I’d rather make a mistake because I am human; rather than because I half-assed a report to get it completed in record time to impress a company that could care less about me.

So today I was upset. Upset at this company for not being the caring establishment that I held it out to be. And upset at myself for giving special treatment, trying to please, and holding in too-high of regard, a company that sadly, is just like so many other companies out there.

Tonight I am thankful that it is never too late to set another boundary, or fix a broken one. This company said they would contact me in six months and see if our business plans were more in-line at that time. Hmmm . . I’m thinking no. But maybe . . maybe we could try again, with a lot better boundaries on my part . . like they can get in line with all the rest of my clients and agree to wait on my timelines! There will be no exceptions to MY business boundaries and no special treatment!