When I first started consulting, I had mostly small clients. I came to my business with more than 10 good years of sales experience, but I was inexperienced as a consultant and tended to work with small companies that were generally uncomplicated and low-risk.
One of my first clients was a husband-and-wife team with a small therapy business. We worked together for several years until they decided to move on to other consultants. I’m happy to say that we ended our business relationship on a positive note.
Years later, with our children in school, my wife decided she wanted to go back to work part time. She ended up working with my former client. By then, they were a much larger company that was still growing. My joke at their annual Christmas party was that they fired me, hired my wife and everyone is happy.
Recently, I had a knee injury and I needed physical therapy. I had lots of options, of course, but I decided to go to this company for my therapy. (I worked with another therapist who is not my wife.)
Say goodbye, say hello
People move in and out and sometimes back into our lives all the time.
I know one person who had a business relationship go sour only to have his son take his former employer’s daughter to the prom years later. (I can only imagine how awkward those prom photos might have been.) I also know of a salesperson who left a company on not the best of terms and ended up working with his old employer’s top client. He’s now the main point of contact between the two companies. Again, awkward.
There are two points to my story: First, when ending a relationship do it with grace and poise. I really can’t emphasize enough the importance of ending on a positive note. No matter how toxic the situation might be, rise above the negativity and be your best self. Swallow your pride if necessary. Send a thank-you note for whatever opportunities you once enjoyed. If an employee is leaving, hold a going-away luncheon for that person. Just do something that sends a positive message at the end. Then work on transitioning smoothly to whatever is next.
Second, people often come back into your life. Sometimes that return is significant; sometimes it’s small. In the 26 years I’ve lived in Birmingham, I’ve been amazed at how many former relationships have come back into my life. And I’m not just talking about people who live and work here. Sometimes I circle back to people I knew in other cities or even people I knew growing up.
It’s another circle of life, and it should be celebrated and appreciated and sustained.