信用

“You can be the richest person in the world, but without the love of family and friends, you would also be the poorest.” - W. Buffett

There need to be a conscious line between business and personal life, don't let what happened in business interfere with who you are off stage with family and friends. Its like defining a boundary between what you can and cannot (code of ethics) in a professional practice, always know where you are standing with each decisions made, so you never come close to crossing the line. When in doubt, step back, don't be seduced by greet and benefits right in front of your eyes, because in the long run, such actions will pay bigger consequence.

“It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to lose it. If you think about that, you will do things differently.” - W. Buffett

Ex: kitchen renovation case. Frequent delays from contractors, as they were shuffling multiple projects at once to make more cash without telling the clients , thus putting smaller clients in disadvantage because their projects were constantly being pushed back to devote more time for larger, more profitable clients (delaying deadlines, lied about production progress with poor excuses). A kitchen island that suppose to be completed in 3 weeks (given by the contractor) took more than 4 months.

The client: couldnt do anything because no contracts were signed to enforce the progress, only way is to denounce the contractors and threaten to withdraw the project.

Lesson learned: you get what you paid (its cheaper to hire a contractor without signing contracts however, you also dont get your protection at the same time. Contract or mutual agreement (acting as check and ballance) regarding schedule is necessary to enforce meeting deadlines, also place professional responsibility (pressure) on both side to get the work done.

Client side: never pay in full or over half before the project has completed. Pay in increments by what is completed, pay only deposites. If you pay in full before any has started, you've just handed the power to the other side, thus losing our right to negotiate in case something goes wrong.
Contractor side: Stick to your promise, at least show effort in recovery if deadline could not be met.

了解市場 才能保障自己權力 不吃虧 但也決不佔對方便宜 能取能捨 守信用 商場之道

大S 說的對 : "責任比機會更重要，不是嗎？我認真看待我完成的作品，盡全力去配合推動；如果命中註定屬於我的東西，將來它一定會再來找我." 不佔一時便宜 賠了信用與機會