Whenever, Whoever

We had an event at the office the other night.  We have been hosting women's seminars every month since November to build camaraderie and a degree of fellowship amongst the women in the office.  The office itself is a self proclaimed boys' club, so sometimes the women get lost in the mix, overshadowed by loud, inappropriate music, a lack of toilet paper and an air of condescension that tends to repel the "gentler" sex.

I always speak or do part of the presentation and the events have gradually grown in attendance and fun ratio to the point where no one wants to leave after we wrap.  We have food and snacks, wine. The male reps serve us for the night, helping us make sure everyone is taken care of.  It's a lot of fun.  One of the things I had the ladies do, was to close their eyes and imagine where they would be Wednesday at 3 pm if money were no object.  Some were on the beach, others were at a massage . . . together we painted a fantasy life to be envied.  No one said, at the office, checking email or in a meeting with my boss about x issue.  If given full reign of their schedule, these women were very picky with where they would be, what they would be doing, and who they would be doing it with.

Sunday I had 9 appointments on the books.  I knew half of them would reschedule or cancel on me, and I was right.  I did 2 appointments, 3 called to reschedule, 2 all out cancelled/flaked/hung up on me en route, and 2 no showed/forgot.  Today, Monday I was looking forward to staying in with the family, doing chores and preparing for the week.  I did one of yesterday's reschedules today and she was awesome.  Intelligent, cares about her community, well travelled and a self proclaimed goal setter and goal hitter.  I cannot wait to meet with her again to deliver her plan.

Another client also wanted to reschedule for today.  He's a loose acquaintance who I have offered my aide to consistently since we met about 2 years ago.  He has cancelled on me no less than 6 times.  This time, I think was the most inconsiderate as he was my last appointment for Sunday night (8 pm), it had been raining outside all day, and he texted me at 7 to cancel our 8 o'clock.  He also assumed that I would be available on Monday (today) to meet with him.  Granted, I did leave my family to meet a client earlier in the day, but the idea of cutting out more family time to meet with someone who had a record of disrespecting my time, was not something I was prepared to do.  So I didn't.  I told him I was not available (which was the truth). I cleaned my house and I tucked my kids in to bed.

There is nothing so satisfying as being able to 1) own your schedule and 2) be able to decide when you do business, and who you do it with.

Here's to living the dream and owning it.

Day 10s reason my business is awesome: I work with whoever I want, whenever I want.  Period.