As some of you may have noticed, I’ve been MIA for a little while. It was due to an unplanned personal “challenge” and never was it my intention to neglect my clients and readers. I would like to begin by apologizing from the bottom of my heart if I’ve worried, angered, and/or disappointed anyone because to this.
Let me explain what’s been happening… I’ll try to make it short and to the point.
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The Problem
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In the last 6 months, I’ve allowed both positive and negative online communications I’ve received to greatly affect me. I understand this is business, but the services are provided by me, a real person. And I found myself unable to separate the business vs. non-business communication.
I grew incredibly sensitive to abusive customers, and emails threatening me or my family usually brought my entire day to a halt. Reading personal threats and dealing with difficult people drained me to the point where I dreaded going online some days, even just to check for new messages. Because I did not want to bother other online business owners by confiding in them about what to do with these types of people, I started to believe I was the only one attracting bad customers and I even began to doubt myself and what I had to offer my clients.
Trying to deal with this took much time and attention away from clients who have always been cooperative and pleasant to work with. And worst of all, it quickly reached the point where it even disturbed me offline. I became paranoid, always suspicious, and insecure… to say I was unhappy & exhausted is an understatement.
So, in early January, my doctor sent me home with a prescription for Zoloft. I fought long and hard with myself about taking this medication (it’s been prescribed to me once before), and finally decided that in order to feel like “myself” again… to be able to get things done… this is what I needed to do.
During the first week of February, I started taking the lowest dosage to get my system used to the medication. However, it completely knocked me out for almost the entire day. I continued to increase my dosage per doctor’s instructions, but found it almost impossible to keep my eyes open, and was unable to function at all. Sure, I was no longer frightened, but that’s because I was sleeping most of the time.
I requested an alternative solution and got the “okay” in the beginning of March. I’ve been “awake” for about 3 weeks, and have been scrambling to play catch up with all of my responsibilities.
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The Remedy
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In order to move forward with my personal and business life, I had to decide to overcome this detour. Otherwise, I’ll remain stagnant, further damaging my relationships with my family, friends, clients and readers. Because I’m no longer taking the medication, it was suggested that I find a “support group” – people who are in a similar field as I am, and confide in them whenever I’m faced with “difficult” clients.
I’ve been very fortunate to come into contact with a handful of people who I feel I can trust and confide in… and during the past 3 weeks, I’ve already been faced with 2 of the most miserable people I’ve ever encountered online (one who sent me abusive email 3 times a day), and turning to my “support group” for advice has proved to be very helpful.
I would never wish this awful experience on anyone, but it’s quite comforting to know I’m not the only one having to deal with difficult and abusive people… and that other marketers have “survived” it and are able to continue with a happy life and successful business. I don’t feel the uncontrollable “fear” I would normally start feeling, and I am quickly learning to take every possible measure to let this type of people “go” and immediately block them from ever contacting me again.
Don’t dwell. Let it go. Keep moving forward.
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The Resolution
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I fully understand and accept that I cannot make my personal challenges into other people’s problems, and I promise to do my very best to keep my business practices as professional as possible.
Once again, I sincerely apologize for the lack of activity from my end, and for worrying, angering, or disappointing anyone because of my personal issues.
I may not dance in the spotlight like many other Internet “celebrities”, but I am one of the best out there. I’m just more comfortable planting myself behind the scenes, but don’t let that fool you. I give you my word that I will continue to teach you how to get the MOST out of your marketing efforts, and I will always look out for your best interest.
About the Author...
Carmen Sakurai (aka "Marketing Chick") is an Internet Marketer, Web Designer & Developer, and a Social Media & Relationship Marketing Addict. You can connect with Carmen via Twitter and Facebook.
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