Due to COVID-19, I moved a mastermind retreat that I host from in-person to virtual. I communicated it quickly in our Facebook Group (while I was traveling) because people needed to reschedule travel, etc — so there wasn’t as much attention to detail in how I communicated the message. This was right when people were finding out that schools were closing, jobs were going remote, and a lot of my clients were scared. Many requested that instead of doing it virtually, I reschedule. Some left comments that were understanding, others kindly requested to reschedule, and two people posted messages that were pretty heated.

One saying I was crazy. The other saying that everyone should renegotiate their contracts because the contract said two in-person retreats.

After reading through the responses and thinking about what I wanted, I decided to do both a virtual retreat and reschedule, and people seemed satisfied with this. However, the client who requested her contract to be renegotiated wasn’t satisfied. She requested to speak with me immediately, that she wanted out of the mastermind because she likely had to release all of her team members and close her business. I told her I would like the opportunity to coach her around this (because she didn’t have to close her doors and we could navigate what to do — that’s what she hired me for.) She still wanted to terminate and after going back and forth I realized she wasn’t in a place to receive coaching support. She didn’t want to hear anything I had to say or tell me anything.

I later found out, after a conversation with her, that she was having panic attacks, throwing up from anxiety, and had four kids home, one with special needs.

After the conversation, and knowing that she wasn’t in a place to receive coaching/support, I released her from the program.

I felt good about this and at peace, but I still have periods where I think back to what she said in the group and to me personally and get angry. I keep going back and forth from feeling at peace to feeling angry. I tried doing some models, and would love feedback.

Un-intentional:
C: Client left the mastermind.
T: She was hostile and should apologize.
F: Anger
A: Passive aggressive thoughts and statements, avoidance of the anger that hasn’t been processed — leads to emotional eating and probably steeps into other areas of business.
R: I don’t act like myself. I start acting hostile.

Intentional:
C: Client left the mastermind.
T: She has a mental illness.
F: Compassion
A: Thinking and talking about her in a good light.
R: Less tension.