Savor the Success - Business Network for women entrepreneurs

I grew up in a retail family.  My mom's family started and ran a retail business for three generations and my dad ran the business for over 20 years.  I started working for the company when I was 14 years old. 

My parents know pretty much everything there is (or was) to know about running a retail business.  No, really.

And when it comes to having a business where you're a successful business but also respected and liked by your employees, competitors and the community at large, they're unbelievable.  My parents sold the business, it was run into the ground by the new owners and it has been closed for over 20 years. 

And they still talk to many of their employees.  Those people are part of our family.  If I ever have employees, I hope to have them love me the way my dad's employees love him.

But I'm getting off of the topic. 

As you can imagine, I get an enormous amount of business advice now that I'm out on my own.  It is apparent to me from the advice that I'm getting, that my parents disagree with my business (and personal) style. 

I'm just not a shark.  I'm not willing to push other people out of my way to get what I want.  If that's what I have to do to be in business, I'd rather fail. 

I run my law firm in accordance with my own personal standards.  I work on a flat fee basis so that I'm not charging for every time I talk to my clients or rushing them to keep their bills down.  I don't charge to talk to people.  I like to give advice to people (even if they're not clients) because I want to help them do what is right for them.  And I've always believed in what goes around, comes around.

And that's the way I live my life too.  This is actually what prompted this blog post. 

As many of you know, I've been trying to sell my apartment in Midtown Manhattan.  I get laughed at because the brokers in my building measure the square footage of the apartments from the outsides of the walls (which is not uncommon).  Not me.  I refuse to measure space that you can't live in, so I lose probably 50 sq. ft. or more.  It's just me.  I hate lying.

So, two weeks ago, I got a lowball offer.  YAY!

I talked him up to a price that I was willing to live with and we were ready to send out the contract.  That day, I got a call from buyers who had seen the apartment and they made a significantly higher offer.  Double YAY!!!

I called the first buyer back and let him know. Thankfully, he wasn't offended at all. 

We took the other offer.  A week and a half goes by and the other buyers back out.  I called the first buyer back, but he's already made an offer on another apartment.  So, now I've lost both... WAH!

Back to the drawing board I go....

So, I was talking to the other brokers in the building this Sunday and telling them what had happened.  And they told me that I should have sent out contracts to both buyers and if the lower priced one came back first, I should have just sat on it until I saw how the other one panned out. 

Problem is that you have to have an accepted offer before you send out a contract.  If I've accepted an offer, to me, that's tantamount to an agreement in principle.  I'm not going to accept two offers for a single apartment.  That's cheating.

My parents think I'm nuts.  (Though that's nothing new...)

My mom asked me whether I would send out two contracts if the situation happened again and I told her that I wouldn't without letting both parties know that I was doing so.   She told me that I need to stop worrying so much about other people's feelings and to look out for myself and be "more of a shark."

But I don't want to be a shark if it means compromising my principles. 

I'm right.  And if it costs me, so be it.