A little more than a week ago I received a rare phone call from a business associate who had hired me over eight years ago to help him service a major player in the wireless communications industry. While we've had our ups and downs over the years, the one thing that always supported good outcomes for our client was our mutual commitment to clear, professional communication. However, in more recent months this has not been the case. It was confusing to me--it seemed that my services were still required, and I continued receiving projects directly from our client. But my business associate stopped communicating with me--which also meant he stopped giving me projects, which effectively cut my hours to almost nothing for the past few months. Along the way I learned that he hired someone new, but elected not to inform me, which was weird. (We've had several other people join and leave our team during the years we worked together--and it always happened "in the open".) So, I surmised that I was probably going to be terminated.
My former associate pretended as if the past six months were no different than the preceding 96. I quickly deduced what the call was about, and resolved to maintain my dignity and composure throughout. I knew I was being fired and my main hope was that my time and attention would not be too severely tested by having to listen to someone lying and making excuses. This was a business relationship, not a marriage. I wish my former client and business associate every success. They are all good people, and while I would be reluctant to work with this former associate again, despite retaining respect for the years of excellent service we provided our client together, I would welcome working with this client again should the opportunity arise.
In a way, this is all quite liberating. For months I was wondering when that proverbial "other shoe" would drop, and now it has. No more fantasizing about things "improving" or going back to the way they were when times were more prosperous. I wasn't completely happy with that business relationship, and I think this compromised my enthusiasm for some of the work I was doing. So this is an opportunity to restructure my business, and start doing things in a better way.
I have a few challenges to overcome, but most of them are figments of my own imagination. Even though there are as yet no followers of this blog (except for the laudable ErocX1), I hope that I will soon have a few fellow travelers along for the ride. Of course, this means that I need to write things that will interest them.
So...what to write?
Well, what is it that I am up to, here? For years and years I carried a belief, if not a true understanding, that by changing my thoughts I can change my life. And yet, I never seem to maintain enough focus, discipline, determintation, or persistence to actually test this belief, or convert it into a real knowing. Can this time be different? Let's try to find out.
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