When Customers Become Horrible Bosses

When we're young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here's your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph. Yes. Good morning to you. Good morning to you. And thank you so much for being here with the old Ralphmiester. Yes. Good morning to you.. As I'm recording, this is early Sunday morning, and I'm bashing out I'm bashing out the episodes. I'm getting ahead of the game as much as possible. Because yes, as I said in a previous episode, or did I? You may not have heard that before you've heard this, it all gets a bit weird in Join Up Dots land because I record and I put it out and I schedule it. And so sometimes I think did I say that or have I said that to myself. You haven't heard it. But anyway, I'm coming across to New York City. Yeah, New Jersey, New Jersey. And while I'm out there, of course, a lot of episodes have to go live and so I'm banging them out, banging them out big time people at the moment for you. Now what I'm going to talk about today. Yes, there's a reason there's a reason for me doing this is in response to an email that i have recieved from a gentleman called Conner in. where is he? Ohio. Ohio, Ohio, Ohio, Ohio. No, that was stupid really. I actually am slightly blushing. I'm slightly blushing. But I've now got an image of dwarfs, we pick a pickaxe and shovels over their shoulders, marching through United States of America. Now, this guy Connor said to me, where was he? "Dear David, I was very interested by a recent episode that you gave us about clearing the decks of bad friends." Yes. It was an interesting one. I've had quite a few responses about that one, actually. And yeah, it was a while ago, but I'm glad you listened "It was very insightful and made me think of a few people in my life that delight in sharing images of me online, which I wish they didn't. You know how it is drunken party images?" No, I don't. No I don't. I've never touched a drop in my life. Okay, there's a few. But when I used to do it, no one had any cameras, which was brilliant, you know, which was fantastic. "You know how it is drunken party images when you are 17. Don't feel as fun when you're in your 40s and trying to create a new life. Anyway, due to that episode, I was inspired to ask you a question. I'm building my own business coaching people to become scratch golfers in Ohio, US. I'm fortunate that the market pays well as most of my clients have been very successful and will readily pay" Good for you, sir. Good for you. Your opening, the wallets of the people that want what you've got. "However, I'm now realising that with this investment, they expect an unreasonable level of support and time frames, which is making my home life difficult." Boo, boo to those rich people. "Do you have any suggestions as to how I can make the situation better for myself, my family and of course my sanity?" Yes, I do, actually. And it's a funny thing, because I've been through this, and loads of people have been through this, I think it's part of the journey of you know, Join Up Dots and online business and in entrepreneurial derring do, that you can quite easily pick up crappy customers. And it's normally the cheap ones, which is interesting that yours are quite rich, it's the ones that don't have a lot of money, but then want to squeeze it out of your like you're a sponge or a flannel. And they're trying to get that extra out of you. Now, when I started Join Up Dots in the early days, I'm trying to think back to what I did now. Yes, I had a few clients, a few coaching clients. And I had a guy that came through to me, and he said, and I've told the storey I repeat myself a lot. But there's a lot of content I have to put out. And he said to me, "David", He was from Africa somewhere. And he said, "David, I would like you to coach me. I'm inspired, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah". And he was the first one and I thought brilliant that's excellent. Yeah. Okay. And so I said to him, okay, its a years course, for 10 grand. Now, I'm a lot more than that, for a tiny, short period of time. But at time, it was 10 grand. And he said, "Yes, but there's no problem at all, I will, I will do it." And, and so I had a client, I thought this is brilliant. And I didn't even know what I was going to be sort of coaching him for really. I just kind of blagged my way through because hey, in those days, there was money on the table, and I was gonna grab it and I didnt care who it was I just wanted to cash. Anyhow, he was alright. But he referred me through to a load of other people. And I went from basically no money at all to nearly six figures, in a very short period of time. But I realised that the majority of them, and if you're listening back first person, uyou was alright. I used to wake up and god think Ive got to speak to them, and they would be emailing me all the time and messaging me and I'd go through things with them. And then they never got it. And it didn't matter how clear and precise. And I just couldn't understand it, I couldn't understand why they were getting it. And then I realised that actually they were the wrong customers. And what I'd effectively done, I'd gone from a job that I didn't like, because I had one rubbish boss. And I ended up with 10 rubbish bosses sort of dictating my time and pulling me from pillar to post. So I got to a point that I said to my wife, "I cant do this", and she said, "Oh just just put up with it, you know, it's not too bad" I went "It is if I'm starting to create my own business woman, I want to have one that I actually enjoy and not think, Oh my God, I've got to do this". So I said to him, "Look, this isn't working." And I gave them all their money back, the majority of their money, about 99%, I kept a little bit I kept a little bit. And I thought to myself, what I need to do something to allow myself to have this ability to be a bit more choosy. And so that's why I created What's At Florida keys.com, which gave me the ability to bring income into my life, and allowed me to become a bit choosy. Now, what I have found, as I said, right at the very beginning, if you go cheap, you get cheap customers. And they really do try to ring you, if you actually put your prices up and really comprehensively price them up, you will lose certain people, but you will gain people that it's weird. They just don't ask for as much. They do exactly what you say. And they appreciate your value more. It's really interesting. So Connor, for your business, one of the things that I would say for you to do, is the next person that comes along, actually sit down with them and and talk to them first of all, and see do you actually like them, because I imagine in the golfing world in sort of world, you're going to spend a lot of time walking around in in stinking hot conditions, and teaching them how to put and chip and drive and all those other golfing terms. And so you've got to enjoy their company. Now you don't have to be lovers, you don't need to be sort of going in bonkers, because they're that absolutely perfect for you. But you've got to at least think to yourself, "Okay, this is going to be a pleasant day and stuff." So that's the first thing that I would do, I wouldn't just except a customer through I would spend a little bit of time talking to them, finding out what they want, and actually seeing is there a connection because as I say, you're going to be spending a lot of time with them. That's the first thing that I would do. And then the second thing, I would look at my prices, and I would increase them, and I would increase them to drop off certain people. But then it means that you don't have to have as many customers, and you're still making the same amount of money. And that's the key thing. Because when you say on there, where did I actually read it? Or did I stop reading that I think I did about unreasonable level of support and timeframes, which is making my home life difficult. Do you have any suggestions? Yeah, I would put the money up and drop down on the amount of customers because then if you've got bad customers, it doesn't matter, you you haven't got as many of them and you go down from eight bad bosses to four bad bosses. And it gives you some breathing time, and then sort of move on accordingly. Okay, it's a real leap of faith Connor, it really is because you mean who's going to pay this, who's going to pay that, and we always benchmark on how much we can afford. And we wouldn't pay that, I would. But you know, people out there have got a tonne of money. So all you need to do is find the people that want to have the best, and position yourself as the best. And I'm sure if you can get people down to scratch golfers, which is, I believe down to sort of level level par, isn't it a golf round, then you must be extremely good at what you do. Put your prices up, speak to them first of all, make sure that there's a connection. And you can do it on the zoom any of the online platforms or as it's sort of a local business, I imagine you could go around and meet them and actually think is there a connection. Ate they somebody that I actually want to spend time with. And if you are in the fortunate position that the money you're bringing in from these clients can pay for all your bills, and that's brilliant. And if they're not, and you're still got a shortfall, then look at reducing the amount that you're spending at home. That's that's the biggest win that I made. That I reduced all my overheads as much as possible, which allowed me to have breathing space to grow, Join Up Dots, right from the very start. So that's my suggestion is to you young Conner. And that's my suggestions to people out there. You don't have to go, for bad bosses surrounding you in a business you are in control, you've got what they want. So you can actually bring into your business, the right customers. Now, if you think to yourself, I'm not getting enough customers at the beginning, then yeah, it might be something that you've got to suck it up and just get through that until your business builds, you can't just be sitting there going, "No, I don't like you, the way you suck that straw, and I don't like you", you know, you gotta be a bit selective, but not too selective right at the very beginning, because hey, you gotta get the ball rolling. But once you get the ball rolling, your confidence will develop. And you will be able to see that actually, you don't need to take all these horrible people and just go for the ones that you think that you can work with. And you will enjoy. And they will get value and you will see your business blossom. Oh, yes, you will. Anyway, so thank you very much for that quick question. Okay, and anybody else who wants to drop me a line and ask me anything, then do so do so at [email protected]. And of course, you can come over to the website and there's a little button at the bottom that says contact. And if you contact us, I will contact you back. Yes, brilliant stuff. Until next time, thank you so much for being here. On Join Up Dots and I will see you again soon. I will I will well might not see or hear you. I won't even hear I don't even know what I'm saying. You will hear me you will hear me which is good enough. Until next time. See ya.