The Business Lesson That Changed My Perspective

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All important life lessons come across as difficulties. It is easier said than done, but only over time do we come to realise that the experience was a life lesson guiding us - and truly a blessing!
 
I recently had that experience, and it truly changed my perspective in business; one client, she did it all single-handedly!
The encounter started off brilliantly - lots of enthusiasm, openness, respect, and willingness to learn. We kicked off with our sessions and a solid plan and goal in hand. 
 
As a couple of weeks passed, that energy slowly turned into lethargy. There were last-minute cancellations of sessions and work left incomplete as promised. 
All of this started to impact my quality of service. 
Not sure if I should have done anything differently but I would consider her circumstances and would oblige to her session changes, which was probably my first mistake! Well, on the other hand - I did give a lot of clear verbal and written warnings on what was expected from her to make her money and our time worthwhile.

And truly - her not completing work on time was ultimately affecting her, as we had to spend all of our coaching time completing the work she was meant to do beforehand.
 
 
Nevertheless, sessions continued for a couple of more weeks, she still showed up, made notes, and reflected on the benefit of my sessions.
 
Well, it could have ended there, but no, it did not! 
As she continued last minute cancellations despite warnings, what was meant to be a four-month contract with eight fortnightly sessions prolonged into six months, with sessions still pending. This lack of engagement from her side, started impacting my interest and involvement with client. But I pushed myself, in the name of professionalism, and then came the tipping point where sessions turned into a show of disrespect.
 
Disrespect in the form of: exiting the meeting midway to attend another call without warning and rejoining later without an apology; attending meetings on the phone; not having a laptop or notebook to take notes; once even lying down on the floor during the meeting!
 
 
I thought and thought a lot.
 
What could I have done differently? Made my terms stricter? Been more stern with my clients? Put a strong time limit on all my sessions? Communicated differently?
 
As I reflected, one thing stood out loud and clear - my terms, my service, and their money would all make sense only if they came in willingly, voluntarily, with full involvement and engagement, and with full belief that my service would truly make a difference in their life.
 
And this cannot be forced on anybody.
 
That made it clear - I did not want to engage in hard sales. I did not want to follow up on leads closely, send regular messages, or cold calls.
 
I will educate people about me and my services - choosing me will be their choice. Which then meant one-to-one coaching turned into a premium service.
 
But this did not complete the lesson! It led me to identifying and realising why I actually started Million Goals — Education!


My mission, my long-term dream through Million Goals, is to make financial literacy accessible to all by making it a part of formal education. And I realised I had not been putting enough effort in that direction! 
I realised I was busy focusing on a lot of ‘Businessy’ things while I almost forgot what actually matters to me. 
And that is when it all fell into place and made sense — the difficult client and the life lesson!
I realised the importance of prioritising time and energy on things that truly matter to us —that make us feel alive and add life to our years. 
With all this while I go on to put more and more of my time, energy and efforts into entering education, I would urge all of you to take some time, reflect, absorb all those signs, and identify what gives you true fulfilment.
Never do anything because you think you have to, or because you’ve been told to, or because you’ve read it somewhere. Do it only because it makes you feel alive!
Ultimately — you have the choice to design life the way you want.

Written by
Mrudula Muralidharan
Founder of Million Goals
 


 

The Business Lesson That Changed My Perspective