I went into a conversation expecting a very easy negotiation. It was a mentorship program I wanted to sign up for. I knew what previous coaches had paid for the mentorship program and knew the coach running it wanted me to join. It sounded like I would make him more money than other coaches in the program had done before.

The problem?

He had signed on some new coaches on a revenue sharing model that was only making him $38/hr. He didn’t want to keep using it, but also didn’t know what to offer me.

He created a proposal on-the-fly that was well over what I was willing to spend and after two hours of talking, we didn’t make a deal.

It felt like a gut punch because I had taught negotiation, but failed to use those skills when I was unprepared and the tables were turned.

Opportunities don’t announce themselves in advance, you have to be ready for them. In this case, I wasn’t.
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A lot of prayer and a difficult conversation later and I’m getting a second chance to negotiate a deal. I’m glad I didn’t make a deal the first time. I learned a lot more from failure than I would have from success, or from accepting a risky deal.

Always. Be. Ready.
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Josh