I don't like to write about negative things, because I don't like to dwell in the pool of negativity. Sometimes we get that surprise that makes us stop in our tracks and re-access where we are going.
This past week I received two of these surprises. Same shot. One was friendly fire and one was testing the waters. I own my own company and I have several independent contractors that work for me. Their work is good and we have spent the past year and a half improving the quality of our work as a result of me losing a client because of a bad apple. Recently, I actually approached this client that I had lost to say "Hey, I have been working on the quality. Take a look." Before they did take a look...Boom...came the warning shot. "We like your work we just don't like the other contractors. They are not you." I should not have been surprised at this but I was. "No they are not me, but I need them because you can not afford to hire me full-time so I am piece mealing out an existence. Each job requires 2 people anyway, so I need someone besides me." The good news is that they hired me back at my proposed rate with the stipulation that I could have only 2 other people involved in the job. That works for me.
The other shot came from a trade show where the trade show coordinator came by to see what I would say when he fired his shot "I understand that you have independent contractors working for you." "Yes, I do." "I hear that your work is good, but not theirs." This is not what you expect to hear when you are at a trade show and the impact hurt even more since I was still recovering from the first shot. I couldn't respond. He figured he had hurt me and explained where he had gotten his story. A bad apple that I had let go right after she had done some bad work. I had paid for that job out of my own pocket, but apparently the client was still bad mouthing me. Great. I explained to the coordinator that I had paid for the work done out of my own pocket and I was disturbed that the client had felt like telling people even after I had made good on the deal.
I came home carrying a lot of pain from the encounter. Had I made the right decision to grow my little company? We had experienced growing pains and I had learned what I needed to look for in hiring people. This past year, we had had a really strong year with no complaints. I have been focusing on how I could grow my company even more and add new products. I was at mass just dealing with pain. Then it hit me. These warning shots were to get my attention. I had addressed the problem, learned from my mistakes and had come out better from this process. It was a purification.
We think we can become holy without pain and suffering just by being holy through prayer and works, but we need the pain to help us turn to Christ. Christ, who suffered pain for our sake. As Catholics we are even encouraged to offer up this suffering for someone else or for some intention. Suffering and uniting our little crosses to His Cross draws us closer to Christ on the Cross.
We need these warning shots so that we stop and make sure that we are on the right path. Not only the right path in our daily ventures, but on the right path to holiness-the way of the Cross.
