It's the 11th of May and I'm feeling great. Great. You thought I was going to run that with something else, but I didn't. Do you know why? Why? Because I'm giving you freedom. Freedom? No. Freedom. I do that. Through integrity. Yeah, you know, know, up until 16, I couldn't, I could, would say think, but then people used to... I've known you much longer than you think I've known you. Think you've known me. Don't start. Don't start. My little boy started doing that. Think.

because he's a son or isn't a I'll say I'll go. Have you got any water? And he's like water to daddy water. Oh wow. You're four. Anyway, today we're talking about Seneca. I want to hit you with a quote from it. It's a short one. So I want you to really do something you're not used to. I to really listen. Okay, I'll try. The key to peace of mind is living with integrity. Those who lack self-discipline lead chaotic and unsettled lives. Wow.

Yeah. So I'm going to take you somewhere with this. I'm going to take you back to the early days of the biz nurse. Wow. We're thinking under to our catra. I just got the Bournemouth office. So whatever year that was. Yeah. Yeah. 2022 2022. Great year for it. Great year for it. We got a client on, but it was it was me and you still. It was early days. We had a small team and it was me and you. And it was no contracts, but rough and ready. We took a client on board and we were both like, I don't know if we'll be able to this. We both not really got much experience with it. There's no evidence that this kind of thing.

would work and I started making some calls became my clients that make some calls. And after a while, after really trying and looking at all the different ways when we were working with them, it just felt like it wasn't landing and it wasn't landing because people were like, that used to be a problem, but we solved it through this other innovation that came in five years ago. And the commons probably just a bit too late to the game. And we, we worked with them and went back and forth, but in the end,

I rang her up and said, look, I'm not comfortable taking your money. I feel like this, I don't think it's either me. I'm not good enough to be able to make this work for you or perhaps the market is educating on what the difference is here. But yeah, I feel like I've already let you down, but I'm just definitely not comfortable taking any more money from you. And she went, my God, that's really, that's really nice of you. I really wasn't expecting this at all. That's honestly so kind of, I was like shocked.

And then had a really nice post on LinkedIn talking about how great we both were to work with and how ethical we were. And it was really nice, but it was, it was basically, it was really saying to someone, I don't want to work with you because I just don't think I can help. Yeah. And actually saying no became its own little PR piece there. we've done that quite a few times along the way where it's saying no to someone has resulted in like a really nice compounding effect. Yeah. I had a guy recently.

And I, he came back to me, emailed me and said, I'm ready to go now. And he, and I said, listen, I don't think you're in a position to do this. I think you need to go away. need to work on your value prop. You need to try this. You're not even doing any LinkedIn or whatever. And you come back to me a year later like that. What now you're talking about it. I've got loads and loads of things I'm thinking about. There was a guy in Manchester who came and sat down with me and he, he helped people that are moving property, like office space.

And I was like, it's needle in a haystack. said, if we're calling up people and I'm saying that, are you moving? I know there's pieces of tech, but these were the early days where we didn't have those pieces of tech to be like, so you're just looking for a needle in a haystack. And he sent me a message. said, go away. Like you probably just need to message to people. Like it doesn't feel like you're doing that. You went away. You messaged me that night and was like, I've got three meetings. Thank you so much. And, and through that, like, ⁓ I've known him for a few years now, recommendations come through, being out for a beer with him, all these different things, but like,

It slowly, slowly starts compact, like you say. One of the things that I think about is the selling doesn't stop when the contracts signed and the money's in the bank. Most people think that's it as a salesperson. And even if it's not your account, but it gets handed over to customer service, customer relationship, the owner, the development team, whatever it is, the selling continues and you might not be responsible, but actually it is your job as a salesperson, not to just bring on customers.

but bring on the right customers. Selling is to solve problems. And something that I've only learned probably maybe this year that I've really been thinking about this is there will always be money on the table. Okay. And there are always going to be opportunities to make money and bring in deals and work with different clients and these opportunities. And it's about learning when to say no, because you can't work with everybody. You can't take on everybody because

You can't help everybody. are going to be some people saying that's where your discovery kills your discovery. I hope you're not killing them. Your discovery skills come in to say, are we the right fit? And if you're not introducing someone, set up a referral scheme, get something out of it. That's all right. But like your job as a seller is to find the problem and present a solution. And that solution can be saying, I'm not the solution.

I remember hearing the guy who runs Timpson. think he's called James Timpson. I think he is. actually think he's called Tim. Tim Timpson. Yeah, like Billy Billington. having that. Like Olly Ollerton. He was basically saying when he was giving his last bit on high performance about advice, he was like, just don't work with bad people. People that you don't like. And that's like a huge company. But he was like, the amount of landlords we've worked with who come in and you're like, you're me like a bad

Yeah, I'd straight away that you take on. He's like, it's never ever worth it. And that really stuck with me. And I've been on many a discovery call and I'm sure I wouldn't be able to do so. I wasn't a man running his own business, but I've been on many a discovery call where it started off on a funny thought. I've thought, I don't think this is going to go well. And actually, I've just stopped the call a few minutes in and said, I think you've got to be fine. You can definitely find someone to help you. But unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be me. And I'm happy to recommend you some people. I don't.

hurt anyone's feelings. don't know over justify it. I make sure I'm thinking as rationally as possible. But if I get that kind of gut feeling of, actually don't think we're going to gel you, you're the way you are, the way I am. It's not going to work. It's probably just not worth it. And like you're saying, there probably will be someone who can, who can help you, but it's not me. I think the feeling that you get when you close a deal and the feeling you get when you say to somebody that's being a bit of an ass, it's not for me.

I think that's the same feeling. Do ya? I've been Jack Frimston. I've been Zack Thompson. Remember you will die. Thank you. Please. Goodbye.