In early March, I started to run a promotional campaign pre-selling golf shorts that we didn’t have in store yet, but we’d collect the money from clients in advance. We’d provide golf shorts at deep discounts; however, clients had to pre-pay, and they had to wait for about 30-45 days until they actually get what they paid for. Generally, it was a win-win for both parties as long as clients are willing to wait. We made lots of sales with the promise that we’d start shipping purchased items in early May of 2017. The agreement that we had with our manufacturer is that we’d get our apparel by April 25th, but we advised our clients that we would be shipping the merchandise to them in early May. Because in our industry, it is common for something to go wrong and your order to be delayed, I always anticipate it and give myself some cushion of time. So, if a manufacturer tells me that the order will be ready by April 25th, I’d tell my clients that we will be shipping in early May, and if we really get it as promised, then our clients will simply get what they purchased sooner (nice surprise). The reason I do that is that “My Word” is very important to me and I cannot stand to make a promise and not deliver.

Guess what? The manufacturer managed to delay my order by over a month. I didn’t expect that at all. I received many promises and many excuses, but the bottom line is that it’s already end of May and I still do not have my order. I made a promise to my clients that I will deliver their purchased items early May and it looks like they will be receiving them in early June. Not that big of a deal for some people, but it was killing me inside, and the biggest issue was that I didn’t know what to do, how to deal with this, and what’s the right thing to do in this situation. I had no choice but to wait because it was out of my control. I had to wait until the manufacturer finishes my order.

Several days passed by, and I felt a tremendous weight piling up on my shoulders. It felt heavier and heavier every day, and I kept asking myself questions: “What should I do? How can I fix this issue? What is the right thing to do?” I made a promise, and I partially failed on delivering on my promise (I’ll deliver purchased items, but not when I promised to deliver them).

Then I started to think about my dealings with other people, other vendors, and even some customers, and I realized some of them often do not do what they promised to do either. So, I slowly started to make myself believe that “over-promising but under-delivering” is a normal behavior nowadays. People, companies, and vendors do that all the time. Well, I didn’t sleep well that night. I kept asking myself: “What’s my word worth?” Not much, if I start to believe what I was always against of. I am the kind of person that go by “Real men honor their words, and they must do what they promised,” “Real men’s handshake is as solid as gold.” That’s when I realized that whatever demon got into me, the one telling me that it’s Ok to make empty promises, has to get out now.

First thing next morning, I asked my staff to start giving all money we charged back to our clients, but still deliver their golf shorts that they pre-purchased. Financially, it was painful, but my soul was free, and it felt amazing. We gave back thousands of dollars. I did it for me, as much as I did it for my customers. I felt like a huge weight was lifted off me, I was able to breathe freely again, and I instantly recognized that I did the right thing for me and my clients.

After all, sometimes, we (business owners) forget why we decided to start a business. If it’s solely to make a lot of money, no problem, you will make some… maybe… but in my opinion, some of the best business owners are people that help other people, make their lives easier, better, more fulfilling, and solve their problems for them. That’s what drives them, that’s what truly make them happy, and if they happen to make a good living doing it, great! They totally deserve it.

The moral of this story is that many of us often consider to live with lower standards, put profits before what’s really important, chase money and try to get it whichever way we can, even if we have to lie and “stab other people on their backs”, make promises that we know we will not deliver, etc.

We all have the right intentions, but, sometimes, we just simply fall short. It happens, and it’s not an issue; we all are just humans, and we make mistakes. The issue is when we knowingly do the wrong thing, we deliberately mislead other people in an effort to gain something from it. If we continue doing the wrong thing repeatedly, it will eventually become our norm, and we won’t even realize that our actions may hurt other people. Our brain is wired with wrong cables, and our subconscious mind is developing poor habits. It’s not always your fault either. You can change it, but you need to take the 1st step. It’s the hardest step: In order for you to fix a problem, first, you need to identify and realize that you have a problem, right? It’s a tough one if you have a huge ego.

People, generally, are amazing, and they want to do great things, connect with other people, and help others. However, our surroundings, poor behaviors, thoughts, environments, and connections sometimes trap and change us without us even realizing we are trapped.

My experience with not delivering on my promises was a good reminder that I need a kick in a butt once in a while. Giving the money back was my way of getting me back on track. Yours could be as simple as getting rid of all the destruction, get away from everyone so you could spend an hour or so with yourself and think about this question: “Am I doing the right thing toward your spouse, your kids, your friends, your partners, your boss, your neighbors, etc.” and “Do I always do what I promise to do? Do I always have the right intentions?” and “What’s my word worth?” and if you are not proud of your answers, try to re-consider your thoughts and actions.

It will only work if you will be honest with yourself.

I hope this will help someone.