Being a Yes Man isn't good for business

So I’m just sitting here wondering why I have to fire customers like I do.

I just fired a Korean customer earlier today.  Why do I do this?

Because he wants “OEM” quality but an “aftermkt” price.  Bye bye.   An absolute recipe for disaster. 

Than he complains when I won’t RMA his stuff for him.   While his volume is rather small, the profits are nice.  Still I feel in the business I’m in, I can’t be a “yes man” to everyone.   I know my customer won’t be able to get the deal he already has with me, from somebody else.   And my quality while not perfect, isn’t as bad as is claimed.   So I’m willing to let him go, and take the chance he won’t find 

anyone else able to provide what I have to offer.   

It doesn’t help that my China suppliers are as shortsighted as they’ve ever been.   Cash up front. Cash is King.   Whoever puts his wallet where his mouth is, is King of the Hill.  Then there are the Iffy promises of “a warranty”.   Even when I have large orders, I have to scream and get ugly sometimes(me?) to get replacement of my parts.   Relationships while important are sometimes wildly exaggerated.   This is one of those situations.  

 And that’s on large PO’s.  Chinese businessmen in my view are so overrated.   Yet they all rush to build the flavor of the month.   Cut corners whenever they can, and put the burden on the White Man to figure it out.  ( You think I cry a river when these guys go bankrupt the next year? ) Luckily I have a local assistant who knows all the tricks.  Saves me a lot of effort.   

However, trying to please every customer one has simply adds to stress in one’s work life.   (I’ve made it a point to my daughters that you can’t go through life trying to be friends with everybody.   Focus on your work and not on trying to be class president. )And when one has his own business, that stress is all day, everyday.  It doesn’t stop when you go home at 5.   All you do is talk to yourself in the mirror.

Still, I’d rather do this than go back to the structured life of an office.   I do miss the free doughnuts though.   And the business class travel.  And the expense account.   And the 5 star hotels.   And the groveling.   But as long as I make more money from the bottom of the food chain than when I was at the top I guess I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.