business proposal?

I had an interesting situation with a potential client/employer lately. I found the ad on Kijiji for a website manager and thought I'd check it out. Who knows? I responded to the ad and said that was right up my alley and I'd be interested in finding out more. The guy called me and told me about the project. It sounded very interesting, and like it could potentially be an ongoing thing as well. I was definitely interested and a bit excited. So we both decided that we were interested in discussing it further for sure and agreed to meet up when I got back from Chicago. During the course of this conversation he mentioned that he would like to meet at his place. His office is there, and I would likely be doing some of the work from there as well.

I wasn't sure how I felt about this at the time, so didn't say anything, just said we'll talk about it on Monday. After thinking about it over the weekend, I was really not feeling comfortable with it, even though he had suggested I bring Jon, and it sounded like his wife was going to be there as well. It just didn't sit right with me. On a first meeting like that, for a business thing, I like to meet in a neutral place, meet somewhere for coffee or a beer. So when I called him today I mentioned that. Had to leave a voicemail as he wasn't home, but I mentioned it in the message and asked him to call me and let me know his thoughts.

Oh boy did he ever! He called me back and right off the bat said that wasn't acceptable. He asked why I didn't want to meet at his place, and I explained that it wasn't anything personal, I just wasn't comfortable with it and didn't like to do business that way, that I wanted to meet somewhere neutral first. He didn't get it. He didn't get it at all. He even got his wife on the phone to talk to me and she didn't get it either. It amazed me that not only did they not seem to see my point of view, they didn't even seem to respect it. They basically said if you won't come to our house for this meeting, then we don't want you to work for us.

Wow. I find myself nearly constantly surprised and shaking my head over people - the way they act, what they say. What happened to common sense and common courtesy? It's obviously not so common anymore!

Don't worry, I didn't cave. I stood up for myself, stuck to my guns and my professional standards - and didn't get the project. Which I am now very thankful for. Sure, it sounded like a great project, but if they were soooo discourteous and almost rude about something like that, then I'm glad I got out before getting in and before something came up later on when things were more complicated and I had more invested in it! Always better to have those issues show up early early on.

So it was a good learning experience for me, a good chance to practice being assertive and standing up for myself. I'm learning to really appreciate these opportunities to get outside of my comfort zone and to grow. After all, if I always stay where I'm comfortable, I will never achieve the success, wealth, adventure and all that good stuff that I want. So hurray for uncomfortable opportunities to grow!