Best Of All, Its Free!

Imagine this scenario. You buy something from me that has a recurring payment. Let’s suppose it’s monthly life coaching and for convenience sake we set up an automatic payment. Then one month you have your credit card lost, stolen or just mangled in the washing machine. Consequently, when I go to take my money out it refuses my request as the card has been stopped. Of course I’m appalled, it’s quite apparent you are ripping me off and I don’t care whether we’ve been working together for 2 years, you’re obviously the kind of person that can’t be trusted. Until you give me some cold hard cash you are banned from my premises and I’m not even allowing you access to your files you charlatan.

Two months after reluctantly handing me the money, you decide life coaching is no longer for you. Rather than go through the rigmarole of watching a grown man break down in tears when you say you are ending our relationship, you go online and try and cancel. Not so quick though Mr. Quitter because I have a rabbit up my sleeve and that particular rabbit has an ace up its sleeve with a cunning plan written on that ace. When you remove your credit card details from your account I have set it up so that it automatically replaces them when you navigate away from the page. How cool is that! You may indeed be able to sign up and pay with the ease of a 4 year old can wedging a crayola in a DVD player, but canceling is about as difficult as getting that crayola back out again.

The above was pretty much what happened to me this week with my hosting and newsletter company. What has it got to do with Life Coaching you may be asking yourself and that is where it gets really tenuous.

I see a lot of clients that want to change jobs or even careers. Do you know what the most popular reason given in survey after survey for people leaving their jobs is? It’s the belief that they aren’t appreciated and valued. I didn’t believe I was valued when Constant Contact shut off my newsletter without even e-mailing me first. I wasn’t trying to defraud them or get something for nothing. I’d simply forgotten that when I cancelled my card it had that particular recurring payment on it.

Showing your family, friends, colleges, employees, customers or whoever else it is that you appreciate them costs absolutely nothing yet so many of us forget to do it. If you have a great employee, tell them, maybe even give them a raise. If you value your clients, make them feel like you do by answering phones and returning messages. If you think are starting to take a loved one for granted, stop for a minute and imagine life without them. If that makes you feel bad, let them know now how much you appreciate them today, because there will come a day when you no longer have that opportunity.

There you go, I told you it was tenuous.