A lesson in Loyalty

Loyalty is one of my greatest strengths which is also my greatest weakness.  I had lunch with a friend today and we talked about how we had both been taken advantage of because we were too loyal.  I don't think I'll get to the end of my life and regret being loyal.  I think I'll have learned that being loyal to the right people and organizations benefited me greatly.  I'll be glad I learned how to stop and observe behavior and actions before pledging my loyalty.

When I split ways with my previous business partner I had no idea what was in store. I had been loyal.  I had put my house up to fund the company when he had nothing to offer.  I had put all my selling skills to work and brought all of my personal network to bear to build the business from 12k in revenue the first year to 1.2 million the year I sold it to him.  For that he forced me out of the business and told all the employees I did not work there anymore, but thats another story. Was that the result of loyalty?  is that what I deserved?  no.  I did learn a lot from that experience.  I learned that I have to be very careful who I am loyal to.  I realized that I had not really known my partner before we started the business together.  That was my mistake.  I had not compared the opportunity with him to any others that were around at the time.  That was my mistake too.  Now I'm very careful who I am loyal to.  Now I take my time to get to know someone before I make a big commitment to them.

I see a lot of small and medium businesses take this approach to their technology.  They find someone who can fix a few things and they figure that person knows everything about technology.  I see companies pay big prices for that loyalty.  Many times I end up being the one to go in afterwards and clean up the mess from ill advised technology decisions.  I can't say much.  Lord knows I've made my own mistakes by being loyal to the wrong person.  I really enjoy it when we get to go in and work with the existing person and help them make improvements that allow them to learn and the customer to prosper.  That's what I call a win win.

So now I watch everything when evaluating a new vendor relationship or customer relationship.  I pay close attention to the cues along the way.  How do they treat others?  Are they respectful of me and my time?  Do they search for ways to have a win win?

I can honestly say that I don't have any customers right now that I feel don't deserve my loyalty.  I also work with vendors who are excellent as well.  I'm thankful for the lesson I learned about loyalty.