We just took the van in for an oil change and rear brakes in preparation for our trip(s). We noticed, standing in the long line which had formed even before the doors opened, that Chris McCarthy’s certifications weren’t on the wall any more; just three blank spaces where the paint was a lighter color.

When we got to the front we asked if Chris had left, and the chap behind the counter volunteered that Chris would be opening his own place across the street soon, but that they still had all the same technicians they’d had when Chris was there.

And I thought, so what?

I didn’t go there for anybody’s technical expertise. Most folks who can get and keep a job as a mechanic are competent at the technical stuff. The primary place auto shops fall down is in the ethics department.

We trust Chris McCarthy. I couldn’t care less who his technicians are; I know he’ll hire the right people, expect good work and honesty, and treat me with respect.

It’s not about the technicians, folks. It’s not about doing a good job. You can be the best in the world, but people do business with people they know, like, and trust.

Ever notice how a nearby sound is louder than something farther away? I was in the bedroom, with the radio on in another room. It was loud; loud enough, anyway.

The Little One came in and sat on the bed with a bag of chips and started crunching away. And completely drowned out the radio. Now, there’s no way her crunching is louder than my music (trust me) but proximity created greater apparent volume.

Closer equals louder—but it’s not real.

Who sounds loud, just because they’re close to you? Are your newest clients making suggestions or demands that wouldn’t make sense to your old loyal cadre? Are your peers offering advice that doesn’t fit? Is your mom or your brother or your neighbor telling you what you should or shouldn’t do for a living?

It’s a good idea to hear a wide variety of input. Hear it, but know what’s loud, and what’s close, and the difference between the two.

Everybody is talking about impostor syndrome and the enormous fear some of us have that since I’m such a fraud it’s only a matter of time before someone finds out.

After lots of reading and pondering the past week, I’ve realised that my greatest business fear is that, after I’ve taken someone’s money, they’ll be seriously unhappy with me, and I’ll fail to find a satisfactory resolution.

What? Lemme see here; the Lord High Master of Selfless Customer Service might “fail to find a satisfactory resolution” ? What kind of blunt force trauma would cause that thought to even be in my head?

Guess what. My worst case, the most appallingly bad, embarrassing, uncomfortable, esteem-crushing case, has already happened.

The Agony of, Um, What was That?

It was excellent. Superb. One of the best business events of our collective experience. No; not talking about the euphemistic ‘learning experience’ of making a mistake. I mean, the outcome, the upshot, the net benefit to me and mine, has been personally, professionally and financially stupendous.

The end result has been

1. a casual client becoming a lifelong diehard raving fan
2. my learning a fantastic tech skill I didn’t realise I’d even care about, and
3. lots of paid work. Lots. Of. Paid. Work.

Chatting with Best Beloved just now, as I was describing my greatest business fear, we both started laughing before I even finished because we were both thinking about exactly the same client, exactly the same event.

The Giant Horrific Mistake

Short and fairly anonymous version: we did a job for a client. At the last minute, far too late for anyone to do anything but print an explanatory apology to be tucked in with the product, client discovers that the product we created has the wrong name on one part. And they’re giving away 300 copies in a few hours. At a huge event a few blocks from our house, of all places.

Mind you, at this point, this is a casual client, not even of mine, but of Best Beloved. The email we got was a classic example of defusing a situation with non-inflammatory prose. The client simply explained what was wrong and the remedial steps taken since a true fix wasn’t possible, and stated forthrightly that they felt we’d want to do something about it.

Well, yeah. Like lay on the closet floor in the fetal position, sobbing and rocking.

Anyway, here’s what we did instead. (Okay, afterwards.)

Resolution

1. We gave the client work from Best Beloved’s business (remember, they were already a paying client so this was actual usable stuff) equal to the entire cost of the product we’d created for them. Mind you, they didn’t lose that entire value, the product was still usable, just flawed. Didn’t matter; she wanted to give the client the full value.
2. We clarified that, should such a thing ever happen again, we expected a phone call, middle of the night or not, so we could drive to the client’s house, and print and stuff the explanatory apology ourselves. Our client should not be doing manual labor to compensate for our error.
3. I pushed it over the top by offering the website we’d been negotiating to build for this client, also coincidentally valued the same as the faulty product, free.

From Resolution to Results

So, #1, the client, who already uses Best Beloved’s service, got a big project (one he was planning to pay her for) done absolutely free.

In #2, the client might never do it, but genuinely believed that if it was necessary, we’d get out of bed and drive across town to make it right, if we ever ever ever made a mistake like that again.

And #3 made them gasp in awe. No, I’m not kidding. As far as I recall, the exact words were “Joel, I was pretty much expecting what Sue offered, and I thought that was more than fair. But this; this is way over the top. This is so far beyond the call of duty. You guys are awesomesauce.” Okay, maybe that last wasn’t the exact word, but it sounded that way to me.

What I Learned (It’s Not What You Think)

More upshot from the downfall: client gently nudges me into learning enough about WordPress to build a completely totally custom website, based on a WordPress framework, which allows me to use my mad coding skillz whilst providing all the grooviness of WordPress. It is universally acclaimed as a thing of beauty; by the client, client’s associates, our clients. I now have some advanced skills with a wonderful tool, which has become an integral part of my web development business over at Spinhead.

Referrals Galore

Three referrals from Disgruntled (Not) Client in the first week after the site is done. One turns into some pro bono work for a charitable group made up of some just super people doing something truly important and unselfish. Another has turned into a really fine paid project with another super guy (did I mention that Not Disgruntled Client’s contact list is filled with people you I wish I was more like? Polite, generous, smart, hard-working, driven. People I want to be around. (Third referral, I dropped the ball. Must pick it up and run with it, since the other two have been touchdowns, plus the extra point thank you very much.

Men, Let This Happen to You

So, to sum up:

Pointless Stupid Fear: 0
Life-Altering New Way of Thinking: 1

For the win.