Deception by omission of the truth part 1
AKA How I got sucked in, lost money, and learned lots of things not in the class curriculum
“Deception by an omission of the truth is as bad as a lie.”
Jennifer Chiaverini
“Leaving out one or more important facts in order to foster a misconception.
This includes the failure to correct pre-existing misconceptions”
Websters dictionary
This is the story of how I learned several things from one bad decision, a very expensive lesson, while also learning Human Design, and how to trust that the universe has my back in the end.
One of the outcomes of the pandemic was my decision to leave the corporate world and dedicate all my energy to my healing business; Sparks of Healing Hypnosis. Everything was ticking along for the first half of 2022, according to plan and I wanted expand my business to include online training. I had the whole thing built in my head, with an outline of colorful sticky notes on the door of my office. I just did not know how to get the idea from my head into an online school of some sort and get it out into the world for people to sign up.
Then along comes… let’s just call him Brad for the sake of this article and not opening myself to slander. Brad first reached out to me via the Book of Faces messaging app in September of 2021 to see if I needed assistance to grow my business. He and his wife operate their business as a team and would I be interested in what they had to offer? I had a short meeting with him and explained that I had not had a full year to see what I could do on my own, therefore I was not interested at that time.
Fast forward ahead to June 2022, my business is doing very well but is not quite where I want it to be so I wanted to get the online training out of my head and out to the world. As fate would have it, Brad happened to reach out to see if I was interested in attending a free talk about how they helped entrepreneurs just like me take their business to the next level. I thought sure, why not attend, it is a free talk and only an hour of my time. I can sit on the deck in the sunshine and listen.
I took three pages of notes from that meeting with some really great ideas; some were new and some were reminders. If only I had known that I wouldn’t get much more for my money… I was highly intrigued by their approach and the success stories they shared on the call. The next step was to book a one-on-one session with Brad to see if my business was a right fit for them. That should have been my first clue… not if they could help me, but if I was a right fit for them.
Looking back, I recognize what was happening there; the nuance of the language hooking into the desire to be “the right fit”, if my business that was good enough for their team to work with me…. chosen. Alas, I was in high spirits with my Sparks of Healing Hypnosis growing every month; the sunshine, and the idea that this might be the key to helping even more people.
During the talk, I heard them mention something about $1000 USD, being Canadian, that was about $1400 at the time which I thought was a lot for my small business but I could sort of swing it if the fit was right.
My Zoom call was the very next day. The majority of the call was Brad asking questions about my business and me eagerly telling him what services I offer, followed by him nodding and encouraging, looking impressed with what I had built on my own. I told him what I needed assistance with and he assured me that they provided that type of support. They already had an online course, and they could absolutely help me get mine up and running. I decided I would go for it… $1400 CAD, if I could get my course up by the end of the summer, well I could make my money back by the end of the year, right?
Then the boom dropped, the course was not $1k USD, that was the deposit. The course was $5k USD and if I paid it all up front, they would knock off a grand. I was shell shocked. I am not sure how I could have heard that incorrectly to such a degree. I had pages of notes of what I wanted to do and his assurance that they had helped clients who were way further behind in their plan than I was.
I was in tears. I turned off my video and tried to get myself together. He talked me through my fears… so supportive, so smooth… too smooth. I got out my credit card and took the plunge. $4k USD… $5200 CAD on my credit card.
Immediately after leaving the call, I felt like I had been punched in the gut, I went to my room and burst into tears. That amount of money at the point I was at with my business would take me a loooooong time to pay back if this didn’t work out.
I reasoned with myself. I had asked if they would help me to learn to develop my idea into a program, oh yes. I asked if they help choose a platform and assist with learning to use it, oh yes. I was just being silly, having buyer’s remorse. It would all be fine, right?
Part 2 can be found here…where I learn just how wise my gut truly is…