Ghosted But Not Forgotten

Have you ever had a customer or an employee that ghosted you and you didn't know why it happened? When this happens early in your business, it really affects your confidence and your heart. Some of you may have had this happen with a first girlfriend or boyfriend.  It makes you question whether you should be doing what you're doing. It's natural. Rejection is very difficult.

By 2016, I had optimized my solo cleaning company after 13 hard years. I was very confident in what I did. Later that year, I started coaching others how to do the same. Rachel was my first coaching client. I helped her every week and it felt great to help someone else. Andrea was my second coaching client. I coached her every week and it also felt great. I was really on to something. Maybe I had found a niche that I loved and also way to create a secondary income from anywhere in the country. That was very exciting! My third coaching client... Let's call him Ron... That's not his real name. I want to keep him anonymous. I coached him two times. Ron was working at a factory and had started a side-hustle cleaning company that he wanted to use to get out of his job. I saw some issues with the way he was building it and gave him some hard advice. After our second call, Ron ghosted me. He never gave a reason and he never responded to any of my follow-ups. I emailed him or messaged him probably 10 times over the next 6 to 12 months. I didn't understand what happened. Since this happened,  have moved on and added more coaching clients. I met Debbie Sardone who encouraged me to create a course. That course is called the ISO Model Course which is included in the Solo Elite Membership still today. We sold that first solo business, moved to PA and did it again. I added a podcast and memberships through the Smart Cleaning School. I scaled the second cleaning company with a team and took my family to Florida for a month.  We're growing and striving to help as many people as possible. But that third customer named Ron ghosting me really affected me early on.

I questioned whether I was doing the right thing, or if I was too hard on people, or if I was too easy, or if I was really qualified to be coaching at all? I had to work things out internally and emotionally build my confidence back up. Thankfully,  I was able to help Rachel and Andrea quite a bit, which boosted my confidence. This infamous ghosting happened in March 2017. About a month ago, I decided that I wanted to reach out to every former customer I've had in the coaching business and anything related to Smart Cleaning School memberships. I just sent a simple email checking in with everyone and thanking them for their trust in me and wanting to see how they were doing in their life, family, and business. I sent any email to Ron as well. It was the first contact or follow-up I had done in probably 4-5 years. A month later, I got a free coaching call set up on my calendar. I offer these on my website and mentioned this on my podcast. A guy named Ron booked a call. I looked at the answers to his reasonings for booking the call and it said this. "I just wanted to call and apologize to you."

I immediately knew who it was and couldn't believe it. I was very excited for this phone call. We did the call a few days later. It lasted 10 minutes. Here's what he told me. "You helped me out about 6 years ago and then I totally didn't return any of your calls or emails. Recently, I was talking to my therapist and told her about this situation. She told me that I should reach back out to you and apologize. I thought that was a good idea. Then your email came across and it confirmed that I needed to call you and apologize. What I did weighted heavily on my heart and I wanted to get it off. It reflected poorly on my character. Ken, I'm sorry." I was amazed to hear this. I told him that it definitely was hard for me as I doubted myself after what happened.  I told him that he was only my third customer and I didn't know if I was good enough to coach. I told him how much it meant to me that he said, 'I'm sorry'. Obviously I forgave him and not that I needed to. We got to talk for a few minutes more and I asked him how he was doing. Ron has started a new company. Cleaning wasn't the right fit for him. He has other entrepreneurial ambitions as well. Ron has gone through some tough patches in life since our coaching calls in 2017.  At the end of our call, he let me pray for him. I told him I'd be available if he wanted to connect again.

Who does that?! After 6 years, calls someone back that they wronged? I am amazed and so grateful. It makes me want to be a better human. Here's why I'm sharing this. You will have people that apply to work for you or work for you for a year and then totally disappear off the planet. I've had that happen with a young lady named...oh, let's call her Ronita. She came to work for me one night and then completely disappeared with my work shirt and apron. You'll have customers or prospective customers that you contact or you've been cleaning for them and they will totally ghost you and maybe not even pay you. In both of these situations, you may doubt yourself if you're new in your business or new in hiring. Take what you've learned from me. Don't doubt yourself. Build your confidence and keep moving forward. There is an expression I learned in Amway that helped me a ton. "Some will, some won't, so what, somewhere six will". In the Amway business, six really productive IBOs on your team would produce a life of freedom. The mindset was you're going to go through a lot of turning over of rocks to find six diamonds. You might go through a thousand to find the six. Are you willing to persistently and consistently go through the effort to find the right ones? I was willing and recognized that Ron wasn't one of the six or the 20 or the 50 that I might have in my goal. So if you've been ghosted in any aspect of your life, relationships, business, just keep moving forward.  And pray for the people that have offended you. Don't let offense turn into bitterness. Bitterness is an evil root that turns into all kinds of wrath and malice and bad things in your life. Let it go and move on.

I've not done an episode like this before and I hope it really helps. I pray that you have a Ron in your life that one day will come back and apologize to you as well. If you've been offended or hurt or ghosted and want some advice, book a free coaching call with me on the Smart Cleaning School website at www.smartcleaningschool.com. Make sure to check out the many free & paid resources available on the website as well. I look forward to helping you overcome this as I did!