I recently was responding to my LinkedIn messages and working on booking calls with potential clients who may be good people to network with.

There was one person who I pitched a call to who I did not really do a lot of research on. He booked a call for early the next morning.

When I saw his Calendly questions filled out and looked at his social media profiles, I felt it wasn’t a good fit and I didn’t really feel I could help this person. I also noticed on his Facebook profile, he had a lot of pictures of guns and posts that seemed violence oriented so I didn’t feel super safe taking the call.

I canceled the call the morning of with about an hour or two before it was set to begin. I said, “ I had a look at your Calendly questions and unfortunately I don’t feel I can provide value or be of support.”

I felt sort of guilty for doing this, but I am working on being more protective of my time.

He emailed me and said this: “So you added me on LinkedIn, then you asked me to book a call with you which I did and then you you canceled me right after I set it up? Wow. So you just wasted my time number one, and also in doing business you never cancel meetings because you never know who’s at the other end because it could be someone big you never even heard of.”

I responded with “ Yes, I totally understand why that was confusing and I am sorry for the inconvenience. I apologize for pitching the call in the first place before doing a bit more due diligence to see what kind of value, if any, I would be able to provide you. Thank you for the feedback.”

But now, I feel slight fear that he could be unsafe and I also feel shame for inviting him to book the call in the first place because I was rushing.

I want to not worry about this. Because I know it’s not super logical… any tips?