How personal should you go?

Recently, I remembered some extremely painful life events that have caused me to pretty much poop out of everything.

My question to you is how personal should you go when sharing with clients that it will take longer to get work done than before?

Another question is: Has something like this ever happened to you? How did you work through your pain healthily?

Comments

[Matt Curcio]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "caused me to pretty much poop out of everything" (lol) and how it fits in with what to tell your clients, but here goes.

It's surprising how little you need to say. People don't want complaints. Most just want to know what you are going to do about it. Doo-doo happens; everyone knows this. People want to know the delivery date. When will I (as a business leader) be able to make my money back? When will customers start buying my products?

When something goes wrong, it is essential, to be honest. Your honesty is everything. But don't give away the ship. A quick note explaining the setback and what you are doing about it is all they require.

Dear Egbert, A personal/professional emergency has taken my full attention for the last two days, and I will not be able to meet your March 1st milestone. My plan is to focus on your project exclusively this week, and I estimate the finish date will be in X days. I have a firm conviction that I can provide what we agreed upon. This project will be stylish and draw business. I will be in touch with you on March Xth
I look forward to speaking with you,

[Christopher Wray]

This is great input. I really appreciated it last year. What I was meaning is I had a mental health crisis due to a childhood memory. Your advice helped a lot in navigating that with my customers.

[Matt Curcio]

I'm glad I could help.
It's good to hear from you.
M