Do not take your success or criticism too seriously

Yesterday my company, Service Excellence Training, became an official provider of training services to a very big company.

This is when you say to me,

“Don’t take yourself too seriously.  Success is a blessing from God.”

Thank you for that reminder.  I appreciate your wisdom.  And, saying “We are an official training company for a Very Big Company” really sounds cooler than it is. 

I’m thrilled to be trusted by a company of it’s size, but there are a lot of official providers of “this thing” or “that thing” when you are talking about lots of zeros.  Still, it is a really great resume builder. 

No matter the size of a company, I’m blessed anytime someone votes on me with their money.

But, I found myself, for just a moment, taking myself just a little bit too seriously.  It didn’t last too long.  Maybe about 5 minutes.

As I usually do when I bring on a new client, I did the social media thing to let people know.  Only this time, I didn’t say the name of the company.  I said,

Today Service Excellence Training, LLC became an official provider of training services to a $(very big) company. God is so good. My team has worked so hard. And, my clients are so amazing. Thank you all!

I felt that was a good combination.

• Announce the event
• Give God the Glory
• Thank my team
• Thank my clients
• Then, get back to work. 

In the original post, I put the actaul size of the company.  It was a lot of 0′s.  I took out those details on purpose when I (re)wrote this blog.

Now, maybe it was not saying the name, or maybe it was all the those 0′s, but this got a lot of responses.  And, it was not all good, not all bad either.

Folks wanted to know:

• Who is the company?  OK, I caused that.  It wouldn’t have happened if I had said the name.  (I can say the name, I just don’t want to until I have really cool video testimonials to post.)

I also got a lot congratulations.  (Cool, thank you.)

But, I also got a really vicious email.  It was mean.  Seriously.  This person was telling me all about myself.  I did not realize I was such a goofball until today.  I’m glad he cleared that up!  Interestingly, I don’t know who he is, but he does have a good looking resume.  I’m sure he is smart and talented.

Critics math kicked in: 1,000 compliments + 1 criticism = 1 criticism.

This is when you say to me,

Don’t take the criticism of others’ too seriously 

So, I wrote him back, and wished him the blessings of the Lord.  I really do wish him well, today.  Years ago, I would have screamed back.  That does no good.  So, I hope he gets the will of God for his life.

Question:   Should I have not announced the new client without the name?

                    Have you ever fallen into the “too serious” trap?