Reasonable to be frustrated?
I had been in talks with an older gentleman about potentially working/partnering together. It would have been me coming in within this guy's business/underneath his brand, but without any salaried compensation, just the potential for future commission splits on deals I sourced. Virtual family office services > tax/estate/financial planning for business owners and high net worth individuals.
Essentially, I would get access to his training systems (aka a coaching mastermind that's taught him how to do this) and to do my own prospecting/client interfacing. I was fine with this arrangement initially. I get access to a high end mastermind + direct access to see which marketing/sales systems work. Out of the blue though, he send me an email asking for my resume, current company I work at (where I would've continued working), and multiple references. Also having to sign an NDA and a non-compete.
I'm not sure why, but this really irritated me. He made zero mention on our last call about this, then completely shifts the frame to trying to qualify me for what is essentially unpaid marketing labor. Again, I was fine to do this work under our original arrangement, but the FRAMING was very off-putting. Especially after having like 4 or so zoom calls with him over the course of multiple weeks, to then receive this email requesting this out of the blue.
I told him I'd be happy to share this info once we clarified some things, and he responded that we needed mutual trust and that he needed to 'protect the integrity of what he's building.' Frame shifted from collaborative potential partnership to vetting me for an unpaid position without clarity to somewhat gaslighting. Is my frustration reasonable here?
Posted Jun 13, 2025, 10:45 PM UTC