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Bogus Claims Will Come Back to Bite You
(This post is being published in May 2020 – in the midst of the pandemic – when many advocates are working from home, and hopefully taking time to update and improve their business practices. I hope the message here rings true for those of you – the few of you – who need it, and that necessary changes will be made accordingly.)True confessions here! I met my husband on Match.com. We met and married in 2006. Today we continue to live our happily ever after.Prior to meeting him, I dated a handful of other (so-called) gentlemen I met on Match.com who weren’t “all that”. And, sad to say, (or, at the time, what seemed appalling to me) when I met them in person, after reading their profiles and seeing the photos they had posted, I was amazed at how much they had either stretched the truth or, in a couple of cases, out-and-out lied. From posting photos that made them look 30 lbs lighter or 20 years younger, to claiming they were far younger than they were, to saying they were widowed or divorced, only to learn they were really married… yikes.(I had to wonder how little regard they had for me, or any other woman they hoped to connect with, that they didn’t think we’d ever figure out the truth? Then what?)So what does this have to do with building an advocacy practice?Plenty.As advocates, our work is so very personal. The relationships we build with our clients can also become deeply personal, even when we try to keep a bit of distance and not get so personal.No, we aren’t looking for lifelong partners – that’s true.But the entire foundation of a hiring decision made by a client is based on trust. A prospective client must trust you before he or she is willing to put life and limb and financial security in your hands. That trust requires honesty up front. Without it, either a prospective client will not hire you to begin with, or, if dishonesty is exposed later, trust will be lost, the client will feel burned, and…