Another lesson learned

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A while ago, I made a post about how the printers (printing press) I work with were becoming really frustrating and how it was affecting the quality of my work. Because of that incident, I had to promise a client discounts on his next jobs just to make sure I didn't lose him. Unfortunately, that meant I ended up taking losses on the next few jobs I did for him. Fast forward to recently. The client wanted another phone pouch made (ironically, the same product that caused the whole discount issue in the first place). I'll be using dollars instead of my local currency (Naira) just to make the figures easier to understand. Normally, I charge $9 for an iPhone pouch. After production, my profit is about $2. Transportation to pick it up costs me another $1, leaving me with just $1 profit. But because of the previous issue, I agreed to charge him $8 instead. That meant after transportation, I was left with absolutely nothing. I was okay with it because I saw it as the last discount I'd ever give him, and honestly, I felt the customer was worth retaining. He had referred someone to me who had already done three jobs within a month, so I believed I had recovered the earlier losses. When I sent the pouch to the printing press, I carefully explained the quality I wanted. They assured me they would do a much better job this time. To my surprise, they produced something even worse. I was so angry that I refused to accept it. The next day, after a lot of back and forth, they agreed to reprint it. Keep in mind, I had already spent $1 on transportation the previous day, and going back again meant spending another $1. The second print wasn't perfect, but it was much better than the first, so I accepted it. The customer had already paid $5 upfront and was supposed to pay the remaining $3 after delivery, which was completely normal. At that time, I had just lost someone close to me, and mentally I wasn't in the best place. Because of everything I was dealing with, I didn't even bother asking for the balance after sending him a sample of the finished work. Besides, I trusted him. He wasn't that kind of person... or at least that's what I thought. Since I work from home, I don't usually allow clients to come to my house for pickups. Most of my customers are ladies, and I'm just not comfortable with that arrangement. Instead, I normally meet clients at my street junction or another public place that's easy for them to access. That meant spending another $1 on transportation to deliver the pouch. When I delivered it, he even reminded me himself about the outstanding balance and promised to send it that night. He didn't. The next day, I messaged him. He said he had completely forgotten and asked me to resend my account details. I did... no response. Days passed. A few days later, he replied again, apologised, and said he was going to make the transfer. Till today, nothing. He ignored my messages while continuing to post on his WhatsApp status. I was trying to be the nice guy. I was trying to please the customer. Now I understand why a lot of business owners become strict. Most of the time, it's not because they're naturally harsh. It's because experience teaches them to be. In the end, I lost about $6 on that single job. The beautiful thing, though, is that I learned a valuable lesson. Never trust a client with outstanding payments, no matter how close you are, how long you've known them, or how many referrals they've brought you. Business is business. Sometimes, the lessons we lose money to are the ones that make us better business owners. What lessons have you learned recently?