if honorable people did smart business with other honorable people, all of them would make more money and all aspects of the business would be stronger. But if you make deals with sleazebags, what do you expect? A kiss on the lips when they are done with you? Don’t blame a deal structure because you had the poor judgment to work with a sleazebag.
that’s true.
And if you are unsure about who you are dealing with; then the smart move is not to put yourself too far out on the limb.
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but there is another issue here, and one I was faced with not too long ago.
Somewhere along the line, the word has to be spread who the sleazbags are; or else we all find out the hard way.
But where do you draw the line? What bothered me was not the money I was out; but rather the conflict of
1. – if I don’t say something soon, friends might fall into the same trap.
2. – if I say something and then the person comes thru; I’ve trashed their reputation over something that if it had been JUST the money I had risked and apparently lost; I’d not have done it. But I guarantee you it would feel a hell of a lot worse to come in here and read a few days later that the same person I could have warned everyone about; had by then taken all these other people that are friends or at the very least; people that had never done me wrong as opposed to this person with whom I have the conflict.
Most all the bad hassle could be avoided if communication stays good. Even if the conversation doesn’t. But when you can no longer get response then you must assume that is the end of it; as far as the other party is concerned. Therefore you must then act accordingly (which each separate incident will be different in most cases, so you’ll consider different actions of course)
Its a tough place to be and I think you have much more self control than me because I know I’d have been yelling bloody murder by now. 