It is Personal, and Business

OK, I’m going to let you in on a secret. I have watched You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan lots of times. I’m not going to say how many times, because I actually don’t know. But it is a lot! And everyone knows the exchange between their characters (okay, Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly... yes, I know the names) about business:

Joe Fox: It wasn't... personal.
Kathleen Kelly: What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn't personal to you. But it was personal to me. It's personal to a lot of people. And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway?

I’m going to tell you that yes, most of the time it is business. But sometimes things hit home a little too closely. Sometimes you do take things personally. And it hurts.

Recently something happened in my business world, and it hurt me personally.  A lot, actually, if I'm being perfectly honest. I work very hard for my clients. Sometimes at the expense of my own personal time and well-being. And, well, I felt that all that hard work was completely unappreciated.  Worthless.

That. Hurt.  It was personal, very personal to me.  It didn't matter that it wasn't my business.  Even when it's a client's business, and in the big scheme of things has nothing to do with me... it's personal.  The work that I do is personal because it represents who I am.  What I mean is, I do damn great work, and that's who I am.  I work hard and I'm going to work my ass off and fight for your business like I would fight for my own.

But when you don't see how much I care for your business...

It got to me in a bad way.  Maybe it shouldn't have.  Maybe I was just having a bad day and I should have just shucked it off to "it's business."  Maybe I shouldn't care as much because others don't care as much.  I don't know.

​But you're going to come across these times in your own business.  It's going to suck.  It's going to hurt.  And it's going to be very, very personal.