Action
After you give a decent amount of thought, it is time to take an action. ‘What if’ never gives you the actual answer. You do it, get the result and finally can make an effective improvement.
I will share the story about my website building as an example.
A good website has been a key element for the business in my mind since the very beginning. I wanted to make it educational and informative yet simple, user friendly. It shows the business mission and spirit. It speaks a lot about me and the business.
I was confident that, once someone did the initial setup for me, I could learn how to use the software, manage the site myself with minimum help. But I knew I was not good enough to build it all myself from scratch. I needed a professional who understood my business concept, guided me to shape my ideas into a certain form and put pieces together as the website format.
My business consultant gave me a few names. I checked their websites and contacted the one in my area because I wanted them close enough to go talk in person whenever I needed.
They presented themselves as some sort of business consultant as well as website builder. I expected the thorough discussion about my business concept to design the website. But, the reality was different. They expected me to know everything and explain them every single piece as how I wanted to begin with. I realized it after I went through a lot of e-mail exchange (since they refused to have a face-to-face meeting!), getting no suggestions or guidance from them but directing them to get things going.
I tried to work with them for about 2 months. They were frustrated as well because I didn’t trust them and let them do whatever they wanted to do. And they couldn’t make any money out of me, so of course they got really upset when I turned it down.
But, they didn’t serve me at all. I decided to say no after all instead of letting things go just to avoid making them upset. Sorry but I am not a charity!
So I moved on and started looking for the next one.