It was 4 years ago and I had been working on an interior design project in London. The client was male and resided in a country where women aren’t allowed to voice their opinions in the same way as they are in the UK.
I sat with my business partner opposite him and his wife in their multi-million pound flat. He was refusing to pay his invoice.
He interrupted and spoke over me.
He used his voice and size to dominate.
He misquoted us.
He lied about what we had agreed.
He had moved the goalposts and he hadn’t had the courtesy to tell us he was doing so.
His wife sat there agreeing with him despite having said nothing herself.
I felt POWERLESS.
My heart was thumping.
My stomach was churning.
My palms were sweating.
I just wanted to run. To get out of there as fast as I could. For it to be over as quickly as possible.
He had the upper hand. And he knew it.
So we walked out of there with a greatly reduced fee. Enough to cover the suppliers that were owed money, but leaving us having effectively worked for nothing for the previous 3 months.
There are many lessons I learnt that day.
But the one that has stuck with me the most is how to stand up for myself in difficult situations.
I have learnt to question what is behind someone’s reaction.
I have learnt to take a pause and really think before I say something.
I have learnt how to hold difficult conversations, getting to the common needs underneath the “noise”.
I can’t say that I won’t ever have my POWER taken away from me again, but it will take a lot more to do it than it used to.
I help REAWAKEN women to their POWER so they can reach their best in all areas of their lives.
If this resonates with you and you want to have confidence in an area of your life so that you can take your POWER BACK, then I’m here to share everything I have with you to help you do that.
Book a free call with me and I’ll coach you through it.