Some Lessons Can Only Learned Through Pain
I have a client whom I know for about 3 years. Lately, he changed to a new company and asked me to quote for one of his projects. I happily prepared a quote. He came back asking me to reduce the price as another competitor was cheaper. I revised the price but without reducing any of the product specs. He came back again, telling me that the competitor had further reduced the price and even showed me the specs as proof. According to the document, the details are all wrong but nevertheless very cheap. It was nearly 40% cheaper than my quote. Dishearten, I told him that I will not match the price and warned him about the irregularities. I never hear from him again.
I am being naive that I treated that person as a friend, while he used my quote to shop around. As I reflect this experience, this is not the first time that had happened to me. About 3 years ago, something similar had happened before.
I firmly believe that the world can only operate when there is trust. Without trust, no one will take action and the world will come to halt.
I learned that some individuals cannot be trusted at all. The only way to find out is by trusting them first. Of course, there are easier ways such as knowing the person's reputation. I do not work with famous people thus it is difficult to know.
I am an eternal optimist. This does not stop me from trusting people. I still believe people are fundamentally good. Instead of complaining about the darkness, we should be the one who must first light the candle. Maybe I can attract more like-minded people in the future.