THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE

Have you ever made a mistake? Where you wish you could have gone back in time and not made the wrong choice. Well I made a mistake and it was that of trying to help a young man build his business. However, for him, that business was a hobby and really not his passion. He had a regular job that was providing well for his family and the Sign Business was something that occasionally brought him a little extra money. His heart was not in making Signs for REALTORS.

It is hard for me to admit, but trying to help him may have been one of the biggest mistakes of my life. My father told me, when I was young, that all a man really has is his reputation and that keeping your word and fulfilling your promises are more precious than GOLD.

He asked me to come back to California and help him build his business by becoming his Sales Manager and to also help find and train some people to actually make the signs. So, I left my wife in Ukraine and I came to Southern California to help him build and grow his business. I began to visit many of my former clients and offices that I had previously serviced in the Inland Empire and his sales slowly began to grow. As long as I was in Southern California, the sales were growing and the production and delivery were right there.

The PROBLEM

Now, the problems began in December, after I left California and went back to Ukraine for the Christmas and New Year Holidays. The production of orders went from normal to a crawl. Instead of prompt completion and delivery, it was taking nearly two weeks or more to complete even the simplest orders. And the delivery of signs to REALTORS was taking even longer. One order, consisting of two 24” x 36” For Sales signs were completed in early December, but they were still sitting in my former friends garage collecting dust. Why they were never delivered or shipped, was never disclosed to me.

While I was in Ukraine during the Holidays, I received phone calls from my customers, complaining that it was a long time since they placed their orders and they had not received their signs, nor were they notified that their orders were being delayed. But I could not do anything at that moment about their sutuation other than call my friend, the owner of that sign company and encourage him to contact the REALTORS, explain what the problem was and that he should expedite those deliveries.

However, the straw that broke the camels back, was that he failed to pay my commission for the orders I had written in November and early December. He used me to generate over 100 orders, dropped the ball when it came to quick turn-a-round and then thought he could get away without paying me my commission earned. After all of that, I had decided that I could not work with and help a man who DOES NOT KEEP HIS WORD. Besides, by his actions, my reputation had been damaged with some REALTORS and some Offices.

For those of you in sales, know that Your Reputation in your Market Place is GOLD and you want to do everything you can to keep it that way. My father stressed to me, that if I make a promise, come hell or high water, even if it is inconvenient for me, I need to fulfill my word and keep my promise. That is the way I have tried to live, all of my life, fulfilling my obligations.

Well, after long conversations with my wife, we decided to settle in Southern California and that we would start our Real Estate Sign Business, providing our clients with Very High Quality Sings at Affordable Prices and with good turn-a-round service.

So to those few REALTORS that were wronged by the Sign Company I worked with last year, I must apologize and ask your forgiveness. I am truly sorry that you were treated in the manner that you were. You know that that is not the way that I operate my business and that I always treat you with respect and dignity. Please Forgive Me... Vladimir