Turning Down Lots of Money To Maintain Your Integrity

February 5th 2015 – Thursday

Today I experienced something that might be considered a coincidence by most people. My digital marketing agency, Lemonade Stand, had a very lucrative deal dropped right into it’s lap. For those of you in sales…you know that huge deals don’t just drop into your lap all the time. Most of the time you need to work hard and long to get a solid lead and then solidify the deal.

The company that contacted us was a company that would have caused our guys to have to work on images of a questionable nature. We immediately said no to the deal and sent them to look for another company. After thinking about it for awhile, I started thinking about how big of a deal this could have been and what kind of money could have flowed from it. I thought of being able to give people raises, and hire others. I thought of my own financial situation. I mean…this deal could have been a game changer for everyone.

But I didn’t want my name on it. I looked at it as a test of virtues. Will I sell out for money? No.

I’m of a different religion than most of the people that work with me and it would be very easy for them to complain because of my decision especially when it might put more money in their pockets. There is nothing better than working with a bunch of people that trust you and are willing support that kind of decision. 

I thought to myself on the way home from work that night, “I wonder if God will bless that decision”

The very next day…it was as if the heavens opened to us. Sales guys that normally aren’t closing deals were closing deals. We had people finding us online with the most random searches. We had more deals close on that very next day…. than we had had in a day over the entire year. We had a person call and dump a deal in our lap that might be worth 4 times the deal that we declined the day earlier.

Honestly I have no other explanation than to believe that God blessed us and that sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.

It’s always best to maintain your integrity. You could die with loads of cash and nothing but regret and all of those deals ultimately meant nothing in the end. Sacrificing your integrity will taint the legacy you leave for those you love you most…and you’ll be afraid to stand before God at the last day.

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2 thoughts on “Turning Down Lots of Money To Maintain Your Integrity

  1. Marla Fawcett Thomas

    I needed this post. I am an older working woman who really likes my coworkers in general and my job duties a lot. I do not want to lose these friendships and functions. Lately I have been thinking about an ethical choice that was made by someone else which puts me in the position of being in an ethical dilemma; eventhough, I did not do anything against my personal nature. The question: Am I willing to lose it all and trust that everything will all work out in the long run? I have been meditating on this for a bit. I need to actually believe that it will work out and that I can make a wise choice in this situation. I need to figure out how to get the one bad, rotten apple out of the good apple basket; but, it may not be possible. Also, how do I find another basket of apples without any rotten apples?

  2. Marla Fawcett Thomas

    By the way . . . you may have actually lost some good employees had you not turned down that lucrative money opportunity. The minute you would have given them that questionable assignment they might have been looking elsewhere. Employees have their own personal limits and may begin looking elsewhere when they begin to feel uncomfortable. Or, if they do not look somewhere else they may sabotage the project in a subtle way. You made a good choice.

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