Robert TaFounder & CEO, Clarity · Building Hyper-Personalized Agents

You Lose Clients by Showing Up Like This

24 May 2026 · 1 min

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1:00

In this monologue, the speaker—identified as a founder—shares a tactical tip about handling travel days that are packed with client calls and meetings. He describes the typical scenario: arriving at a destination by noon, having an afternoon free to either wander or take calls while preparing a keynote for the next day. He highlights how flight delays can abruptly turn a free afternoon into a high‑stress situation when a Zoom call with a new client is about to start while still on the runway. The founder wrestles with the decision to cancel the call (risking rudeness and losing the prospect) versus pushing through despite exhaustion and a compromised appearance. He concludes that the stress of trying to be present under such conditions is not worth it, both for his own well‑being and for the unnecessary stress it places on prospects and clients.

Chapters

What's your tactical tip around managing travel? You have to do so many things as a founder, and so something I noticed is that it really stressed me out when I have to be on calls and meetings on days of travel. Let's say I get up early in the morning and I make it to my destination by noon, and technically my afternoon is free. I'm preparing a keynote for the next day, and the afternoon I can wander around, or I can take some calls. I'll be productive. But sure enough, at some point your flight is delayed— the weather, the plane, who knows— and then you're still on the on the runway and your Zoom is about to start with a new client, you're like, oh my God, what am I going to do? So then you're making a decision, am I going to cancel the call? And that might seem rude, I might lose the customer, or do I just risk it and try to get myself to be as presentable as possible even though I've been up since 3 o'clock trying to catch this flight? And it just isn't worth it to me, like that stress and unnecessary— also stress for my prospects and clients too. Yeah.