This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there, what's up? Thanks for tuning in today. So one of the cool things I get to do is I get to hear about all kinds of interesting customer experiences. Now, of course, I should say first, many customers, most customers are awesome and amazing. If you have customers or clients, I hope they are the best in the world.
Commerce is what makes the world go around, et cetera, et cetera. But one thing I also believe is that the customer is not always right, you know? I don't make this show for customers or clients. I make it for side hustlers and small business owners and entrepreneurs and people who are interested in creating something for themselves, right? So sometimes the customer is actually wrong.
You know, this whole thing about the customer is always right, that's not true. Sometimes it's not worth chasing business. Sometimes you should fire customers, you know, when they become a burden that prevents you from serving other people who are, I don't know, less difficult or whatever the situation may be, et cetera, et cetera, again. So this brings me to today's caller, right? Quite a setup.
But I'm just gonna let you hear her question without further commentary from me. So we got a shout out to our sponsor, sponsor message, then you're gonna hear Rebecca's question slash story and then we'll talk about it. [Music]
Hey there, this is Rebecca, longtime listener and fan. This is a weird one. I already know what you're gonna say about it or I think I know what you're gonna say about it, but I thought I'd ask anyway.
It's been bothering me. The short version. So a customer came into an event that I did. They didn't pay beforehand. That's not a huge deal by itself.
Sometimes people pay on the spot. The problem is after the event, she was trying to barter with me instead of paying. Seriously, she offered her services in energy healing in exchange for the ticket price to which I thought, I don't know, maybe I'd prefer you just pay with your credit card like everyone else. I politely declined her offer. She did pay up, but I could tell she wasn't happy about it.
To me, it seemed presumptuous to do what she did. But tell me, tell me if I'm wrong. Should I have been happy to barter after the sale? I can handle it. Don't worry.
[Music]
Hey Rebecca, if I thought you were wrong, I would say so. But this is pretty absurd. It's pretty amazing and not a good way amazing, but a stop the insanity kind of amazing. It actually sounds like the definition of a customer that you don't want to have back. Now, of course, if this person had tried to barter before coming to the event, that's fine.
Like you might as well try. She could offer something. You could politely say, my energy is good today. Thanks. I don't need that service or I don't wish to exchange my service for yours.
And there's no harm done, right? But as my British friends would say, it's kind of cheeky to attend a paid event and then not pay afterwards. You know, it's like going to a restaurant and then you have your dinner and then you're like, actually, I decided not to pay. Would you mind if I offer acupuncture, you know, in the back to the chef perhaps. And then, you know, you get miffed when the event planner or business owner, restaurant owner, whatever it is, declines to accept the barter offer.
So that's basically what happened. You know, it's kind of cheeky. So in this situation, what you have is a story and life is made up of stories. And now for the rest of your side hustle career or your entrepreneurial life, you can tell the story of that one time someone tried to barter with you after you'd already given them what they signed up for. You can also move on, you know, and focus on the rest of your customers, which sound much better than this one.
And it sounds like that's what you're doing. So keep doing that. No reprimand for me, Rebecca, I think you made exactly the right decision. Listeners, what do you think? Hopefully that woman who offered the energy healing service isn't listening right now.
But hey, if she is, maybe there's a lesson there too. In any case, that's it for today. Hope you're doing well over there. Take care of yourself during the holidays. We've got a big year coming up, sidehustleschool.com/questions.
If you've got any feedback, you can also follow me on social. We'll continue to have a new episode every day throughout the holidays and beyond, of course, but that's all for now. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Sidehustleschool. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
