Why End it in Fire?
A lover who dumped you? A company that fired you? A client who left you? A friend who ditched you? A soccer team that cut you?
Humans feel the gravity of a rejection hit them like a blaze of fire, a strong emotional backlash that leads us to burn a bridge and cut that person, company, client, or thing from our life.
I recently asked myself, why does it have to end in fire? Why do we have to burn a bridge?
From a young age, I learnt that if I am rejected then I must reject back, “an eye for an eye” type situation. However, in business I learnt to not burn a bridge, even if my internal conscience urges me to douse it with all the fuel on the planet and light the match to eradicate it.
Pointless Fire
I learnt the lesson from a failed client sale.
A potential client, for anonymity I shall call them Pamela, asked me for a new marketing website as their old one failed to attract customers. I organised an online meeting but they preferred that I go to their physical office. I work with clients around the world and hardly meet them in person but since I lived in the same city I obliged and met Pamela in person.
I travelled to the office, discussed solutions for a couple of hours, pitched different ways forward, and returned home to prepare a quote. I sent off the quote to which Pamela immediately replied and said she lacked the funds for my proposed solution.
For over 3 months we …
