Article by Anna Letitia Cook
Here is a little story for you today built out of my frustration with a gite owner who by her rigidity and decision to stick to ‘the rules’ like superglue has lost herself regular bookings (and recommendations) for the next year or so…
Briefly – I am going to collect two ‘flatties’ next weekend – flat-coated retrievers to the uninitiated 
You may know I am an avid, passionate, fanatical ever-since-I-was-born horse and dog person… My beautiful old dog is now lonely after his last ‘bestie’ sadly died recently so he is about to be invaded by both his daughter and his grandson – that should give him a new spring in his step J The lady I am getting them from, Sylvie, is a 5+ hour drive away. She also does regular specialist training weekends for dogs. My old boy was Champion of France, Luxembourg etc and his grandson is looking to follow in his footsteps so I want to do the training – therefore I am looking for a gite close to Sylvie that accepts dogs that I can book every 6 weeks or so to do the training… For a gite owner in France having a regular booking out of the summer season is not only GOOD, it is an absolute MIRACLE!
Being inflexible can lose you business
Madame Gite Owner is over the moon you say… Madame Gite Owner can’t believe her luck you think – Madame Gite Owner has in fact decided to cut off her nose to spite her face… I wanted to book this first time for only one night, using one of the three bedrooms there – literally just to sleep, not even cooking as we are having dinner at Sylvie’s… Madame Gite owner has refused to let for one night and in addition to raising the price because of staying two nights (where is the logic, seriously?! I am only staying one) has also said we have to bring our own bedding or else there will be an extra charge for each room in the gite. Unsurprisingly I am not giving her my custom, nor will I be for all the regular training weekends, nor will I be recommending her to the several other contacts I have who are interested in other regular trainings on other dates…
The point of my story is don’t be rigid, don’t be blinkered by ‘the rules’ or by ‘the way we do it’. Mrs Gite Owner’s goal is to earn money by renting out her gite as often as possible throughout the year. How difficult would it have been for Madame Gite Owner to let me book for one night and include the sheets in view of the regular custom she would have got, to say nothing of actually trying to be an open-minded, welcoming person?
“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach”. – Tony Robbins
So think about that.
ACTION STEPS: Take a piece of paper and note down your answers to the following:
- What are your decisions?
- How can you make your approach to them more flexible?
- What do you do that is rigid?
- Where do you put the blinkers on?
- Where can you be more relaxed and creative in your approach to getting something done?
- How can you go with the flow while still advancing (in a non-linear manner) towards your objective?
I will leave you with this thought:
“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it”. – Lao Tzu
Bio:
Anna Letitia Cook is passionate about mentoring women in finding clarity and fulfilment in their life choices. She created and became CEO of her first company in the entertainment industry at age 32. Midlife approaching, hungry for a dynamic change, she refocused her experience, founding WomenUP Ltd to help women shape their own future. www.womenup.global
Creator of the ‘Unstoppable Goddess 4-dimensional Life Design’ and the ‘SCOPE’ process for career fulfilment. Author of ‘Unstoppable Goddess: Every Women’s Guide to Freedom, Fulfilment and Success’, with a second, ‘Glass Ceiling Grans – The Silver Goddess Experience’, already under way.