Can I confess something?

Last week I failed. I was a big fat failure. I'd agreed to work with a client, and she was not happy with what I did. In fact, she was so unhappy she asked for a refund.

It wasn't a big project. I'd only spent a handful of hours on it. But I did spend my limited free time working hard on it. And it was a failure.

There are several reasons I failed. Communication issues were part of the issue, but it was mainly because I'd agreed to do something that I wasn't really comfortable doing. The project had turned into something that I hadn't expected, and it wasn't in my wheelhouse. Instead of bowing out like I should have, I pressed on.

And then I failed.

I gave her the refund because obviously things weren't working. I felt awful. I was angry, hurt, disappointed...when I went into the system to reverse the transaction I felt like my face was on fire. I've never had to give a refund before. I've never had anyone be so unhappy with my work before.

But I learned an important lesson. If it doesn't feel right, don't agree to do it. If you go into a project and it becomes something you don't feel comfortable with, turn it down and recommend they find someone else. I'll remember that next time. And no, I don't have any hard feelings toward that client. I hope she found the right person and got exactly what she wanted. I could've spent 10 more hours on it and I don't think I could've given her that.

I guess I could look on the bright side: it totally counts as a rejection, right? I haven't racked up as many of those as I'd anticipated, so I better get back to it. I've put myself out there quite a bit this week (more on that soon!) and I anticipate quite a few more rejections in the near future. As long as there are some wins in there too, I'm totally ok with it!

Happy Friday, friends!