@joshdoody Thanks, Josh. It's interesting that you say that - I've received listener e-mail over the past 2 years both complaining that I talk about myself TOO much, and that I don't talk about my own projects enough! Talking to Steli was really, really timely - even if I had been inclined to not address the "lost client" issue, it was too perfect an opportunity to teach/learn; I would have been ripping off the listeners by NOT talking about it. :) Glad you appreciated it, I sometimes wonder just how open & vulnerable to be on the show. And Steli TOTALLY got it. Just hearing him say that he still experiences anxiety over these sort of things was really helpful.

@gelform Hi, Corey. Agreed, even knowing that Steli is fairly polished in his messaging, I didn't expect him to be SO adept at phrasing things in such a way that they made perfect sense even to an engineering-type with weak sales muscles like me. :) What I noticed about Steli in that way - and this is evident even in those older, unpolished interviews - is that he's able to see directly to the core value of whatever it is he's talking about, and address it. I envy that ability to trim the fat off *before* the words come out (more than one person has accused me of being a tad wordy). We went a bit longer than I like with this episode, so it may take you 3 commutes to get through all of it. But I promise it's worth it!

@nichediver Hahahaha. Yeah, I went WAY off-format, not so much because of the client trauma (although that didn't help), but more because once I saw what direction Steli was heading in naturally, I didn't want to mess with it. Guest control is only an issue if they're going off-topic in a way that's not valuable. This, however, was fantastic. I have a keen interest in industrial psychology myself, so if guest is going to drag me off-format, this is a welcome way to do it!