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In the early days of building my company, before team retreats, company values or anything resembling structure — I landed a client I thought would change everything. A household name. A generous budget. Access to rooms I’d only dreamed of.
They were charming, urgent and eager to move fast. “We’ll work out the specifics later,” they said. And I — ambitious, energized, hungry — said yes.
That was my first mistake.
By saying yes to being nice, I said no to setting boundaries. Scope ballooned. Expectations multiplied. Instead of leading the relationship, I chased it — reactive, overextended and increasingly misaligned. When