Not everyone is going to love you. Hell, not everyone is going to like you (let alone love you). And in the horse world, you’ll find a greater collection of folks judging you (I’m talking about the pro-bono, free, unsolicited judgements) than you will find folks in your corner rooting for you - it’s weird, and it’s wrong and it’s something some wear as a badge of honor that they’re “doing something right”. What’s the saying - all publicity is good publicity. In some ways that is true. Look at Miley Cyrus (whom I just love); She went full on star-of-the-show for quite some time; she became even bigger than Hannah Montana ever could have and for entirely different reasons. Even if you didn’t like how she was acting or dressing, you were talking about her. You were buying into building her brand, growing her name; It’s not by mistake, she (and her team) are really savvy for how they blew up the Miley Cyrus brand.
What I’m getting at is when you start something, I’ve found, you’ll be surrounded by a small collection of folks who really believe in you, your dream, in the work you’re doing to create. These folks often will give themselves the title of “lifers”: Usually this is indicative of them and their horses (in my instance) spending the entirety of their lives riding, showing, retiring and sharing in the wonderful, unexpected horse journey with you. They become the foundation you build your business upon. Clients who turn into friends and friends you view as family. You work tirelessly for their dreams, you advocate for their horses’ best interest. Their dreams become your dreams. Until they’re not.. Until they are no longer lifers (with you).
I’m finding that [hopefully] the non-lifer-lifers are a small subset of the clients I will hold; however, the sting of being relieved of such duties by the ones you held close leaves a poor impression of the talents you were once so proud of. It happens to all of us at some point. When our time comes along, we tie up our boots, shift the focus, and remind ourselves why we started, why we do what we love with you.
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