And it actually made us both feel great!

Say what?

See here’s the thing. This is someone I have worked with already on a bunch of projects. She’s amazing. Does great work. Is speedy. One of those “wow, so glad I found her” kind of people.

I asked her to help me out with a certain type of project that I wasn’t sure was in her wheelhouse, but thought it might be. She was upfront saying it wasn’t really her thing but she was totally game to do it.

So we got started – and it was bumpy from the start.

Things weren’t clicking. They were moving slowly. We couldn’t seem to find our groove to land on what I was looking for. Nor could I find a way to better describe what I wanted.

I was starting to feel frustrated and I could tell she was feeling the same.

So I reached out last night to say “Hey, I think we are going to have to stop working on this project together. It’s just not clicking. I’m feeling frustrated and I suspect you are too.”

Her reply “I would be utterly relieved not to have to work on this anymore!”

So, we transferred the unused portion of what I paid to do some other work together. Because yes, I will continue to work with her on the stuff that she does well and that she enjoys doing too. We are starting on our next project together Monday. :)

The moral of this story?

1 – Be brave enough to have tough, honest conversations. Do I like ‘firing’ people? Hell no – I’m a people pleaser at heart and my default is to avoid those conversations. But it wasn’t working out. We both knew it. And to continue to try to ‘make it work’ would have just made things worse over time and may have ended our working relationship altogether, which would have been a huge bummer.

2 – Be brave enough to say no to projects that aren’t in your wheelhouse. Even when it’s something you know you could do or could figure out. Even when you love the client. And you want the money! (but of course) This puts undue stress on yourself and could risk a good working relationship. This is especially tough when you are the type of person who can do a lot of things and likes to ‘figure stuff out’… I’m that type of person too and it’s always tempting to say yes!

Not every ending of a relationship has to be a bad thing.

We don’t have to part on bad terms. Feel mad. Or even let down.

These things happen sometimes. And we’ve all been on both sides of that coin.

At the end of the day, we are all humans in a relationship with each other. And we get to choose how to show up even when things are tough.