My $20,000 mistake

I have a confession.

I screwed up.

And this screw up cost me $20,000.

But to be honest, I'm kinda proud.

You may have noticed...my emails have been off lately.

An off tone.

Different branding.

Weird right?

Well, that's because those emails with the logo at the top weren't me writing them.
You see, I paid someone $25,000 to help me with my systems and business.

And part of this deal was to have them write emails for me, along with other things.

But holy shit was it an awful experience lol.

The emails were dog shit (in my humble opinion). And they weren't from a place from authenticity. They weren't how I'd say stuff.

Since I'm the artistic type, I didn't like the thought of someone writing my emails for me, but I placed a lot of trust in this person.

I initially had no intention on hiring this person, but they were a good friend to me and had been helping me for free with some business stuff for a bit.

And in turn, I felt the reciprocity bias kick in.

So I paid for their mentorship program.

But from the start, it wasn't a good experience. It seemed like all they cared about was making money but I prioritize brand.

On top of that, I paid $25K but got the value of a $500 service.

It all didn't sit right with me. I expressed my concern, and they said they'd fix things. And to be fair, they might have.

But for the past few days, I thought about a few things.

What do I stand for?
What do I value?
What is my brand?

I want to have a positive impact on your life.

I want to help you live a life of freedom.

Living a life enjoying what you work on what you want, living where you want, and having the freedom to do what you want.

I also want to make a lotta money by making you even more money.

But it needs to come from a place of authenticity.

It needs to be true to me.

It needs to be true to you.

Sure, if I had someone else write for me, could I make a ton more money and free up a ton of more time?

100%.

But there are things in life that I value doing myself.

And my relationship with ya is one of them.

So, I told the person who was helping me, I'm cutting our working relationship. I asked for a half refund out of good faith, but they only offered $5K.

That $20K it cost me for this lesson was worth it. I

I will never outsource my authenticity.

Now, I like to keep these emails actionable, so what can you learn?

Avoid emotional decision, folks.

Especially in business.

I liked the person I worked with a lot, but because of this, I didn't ask for any case studies and I ignored some red flags.

I just put blind faith in 'em.

And it was 100% my fault.

A question I kept coming back to while I was deciding whether or not to cut ties was:

"If this person wasn't a friend, would I work with them?"

The answer was no.

When I cut out the emotional element, it all became clear.

And this is a question I'm going to continue asking myself. But this time, BEFORE I start working with them hahah.

So, my friend, wanted to pass on this expensive lesson to you, in hopes it prevents the same outcome in the future.

And I also wanted to apologize.

Whether you realized something was up or not.

It's not how I want to represent myself and I can assure you, the emails onward will be from your Canadian potato friend.

Much love.

Dakota "Potato Mistake" Robertson