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The world is full of unethical people who can’t be trusted. You always have to be on guard or else become the victim.
That’s certainly the “glass-half-empty,” view of things. People who have this perspective on life usually uphold the mantra, “Always keep the bar low. That way you will never be disappointed.”
Then there are the other people in this life who hold a more positive, optimistic outlook. These individuals always look for the good in people. They are trusting, eager to give someone the benefit of the doubt. They are forgiving; extending second, third, fourth chances.
“Suckers,” the former says of the latter.
“Negative Nellies,” the latter says of the former.
And yet, somehow, these two groups of people manage to co-exist.
Cats and dogs, living together! Mass hysteria!
-Dr. Peter Venkman
But I think both need each other. The optimists need the cynics to prepare them for the ugly realities of the world and the cynics need the optimists to find hope and meaning in life.
And it was at the corner of Positivity Blvd. and Crushing Reality St. that I once learned a lesson about people, business, and the importance of due diligence.
I was out on my own, trying to make a go of it as an independent video producer. I was in my 20s and up to that point I had experienced such volatility that my career felt like the proverbial action hero trying to outrun the collapsing rope bridge after the villain snapped the rope from the other side.
“Just keep going,” I told myself. “and maybe, just maybe, you’ll make it to the other side before plunging into the gorge below.”
That’s why I was eager to take any job, no matter how simple or complex. Even if I felt like a particular job was outside of my skill set, I would tell myself, “Just say ‘Yes,’ and then figure out the details later.”
So when a potential client called me to discuss the particulars of producing video content for a Christian musical group, I was thrilled to work up a budget and proposal. To protect this person’s identity, we’ll call the client Corey.
Corey explained that he was the manager for a Christian group and they needed multiple cameras to cover a private concert that would be used as part of a marketing push to promote a new album. And the concert would be the first in what would be an entire package of video content. For the first phase, Corey needed a multicam edit of the concert, along with a sizzle reel. My pen danced across the page of my notebook as I hurriedly wrote down all the details (which I won’t bore you with here, but we agreed to terms and the contract was signed).
On the night of the concert I had two cameras (it wasn’t a large venue and two was plenty for what the client needed) along with audio and lighting packages. We met the band members (a wonderful group of people who couldn’t have been nicer) and went to work setting up our gear. The shoot went off without any problems and I received my check same day.
But a few days later I received some unexpected mail from my bank: the client’s check bounced.
I reached out to Corey via email.
No response.
Phone calls went unanswered and unreturned.
My editor was already working on the sizzle reel and I had to tell him to stop because Corey’s payment bounced and he was ghosting me. And the weird thing was, I couldn’t figure out why. He never received any of footage. He never received an edited video, so he wasn’t getting anything for free.
Days went by, then weeks. Ninety days. Multiple invoices sent.
Nothing.
I called the band’s leader to explain the situation to him. I wanted him to understand why he hadn’t seen a video yet. I didn’t want him to think poorly of myself and my business. Negative word of mouth can be a killer. I also wanted to see if I could get any information from him about Corey; about alternate contact methods, reasons why he might not be paying, anything. But unfortunately he couldn’t tell me much.
Then, finally I heard from Corey. But it wasn’t about my money. It was about an NDA. He wanted me to sign an NDA.
Huh? An NDA? For what? I didn’t understand.
“What does an NDA have anything to do with a bad check that you wrote?” I thought. And so I refused to sign (I knew nothing good would come of it). He responded and told me that he wouldn’t be paying because I talked to the band’s leader and disclosed information about the debt.
Who was this guy?
In the end I had to take the loss and use it as a write-off. Sure, I could have taken him to small claims court, but the hassle of that process mixed with legal fees and other expenses wouldn’t have made it worthwhile. I never spoke to Corey nor anyone from the band again.
And so I learned some important lessons about the business world (and about people in general). With my optimistic outlook and my eagerness to accept any job I negated one important step: due diligence.
I should have looked this guy up.*
I should have searched for his company.
I should have found out more about who he was and his other clients.
In fact, I did do that… only too late. It wasn’t until his check bounced and he started ghosting me that I scoured the Internet looking for him and his firm, only to come up with nothing. It’s a scene right out of a con movie where the mark bursts in to the office with police in tow only to find an empty warehouse.
“But, but… it was here! I swear!”
* In preparing this story I went back to my archived files and pulled up all the paperwork from this job - contracts, invoices, etc. to help refresh my memory. Once I found my contact’s name I decided to look him up again, just to see if I could find anything on him in the 15 years since this happened. Sure enough, I found his LinkedIn profile and it was exactly the same as it was back then. Nothing had changed. I couldn’t find any information on his firm, nor the band.