Business is about survival. If you don’t make a profit, it’s curtains. Every day, we make decisions that can make or break our companies, often testing our ethics and integrity. It‘s a reality I had to face.

You don’t really know how a business works until you’re in it.

For 17 years, I was a commercial horse breeder. I knew absolutely nothing about breeding, foaling, racing, or selling when I started. I learned a little each day.

The horse business is like no other and staying solvent is a struggle for most players, like me.

Anyone can buy a horse to get started. That’s not the problem. It’s knowing what to do next. After all, a horse is a fabulous animal that needs a career that matches his/her abilities. (Sound familiar?) It’s our task to prepare them for a good job at a good place. That’s the challenge.

You don’t have to be rich to be in business, but you’d better be savvy.

I owned a well-bred yearling colt that I’d worked with for a year until he was ready to move on to his next training stage. He was a handsome, strapping chestnut horse with lots of promise.

I took him to a swanky thoroughbred race horse auction where there were lots of quality buyers who could help him develop his potential.

My crew and I were eager to show him to prospective buyers who would come by for a preview. We’d take him out of the stall, walk and jog him back and forth, showcasing his beautiful movement and conformation. We did this repeatedly until it was his time in the auction ring.

I was so confident walking him in the prep ring. Here I was with a great looking colt showing tons of pedigree. This was going to be our moment.

The valet takes my horse onto the auction floor. The bidding starts. I know it’s someone from my crew. It goes in fits and starts. My heart is pounding. In less than five minutes, the hammer comes down. The final bid was less than what I’d paid for him over a year ago and I know that my crew, by instruction, had bought him back.

I was dumbfounded. It was a long and quiet ride home.

If you want to know the hard realities of a business, talk to the insiders. But you may choose not to listen.

My phone rang the next day. The caller had advice to share.

He told me that I hadn’t handled things right when I was showing my colt to prospects. This is what he explained:

“When a buyer’s agent comes by and asks how much you expect to get for your horse, give him/her a price. Explain that you are prepared to split the difference between your price and final bid price if s/he is the successful bidder.”

See how this works? The person with the money to buy has engaged his trainer or agent to pick the right horse for him. Since each horse there has high potential to be successful, it’s in the agent’s best interest to buy the one that is the best “deal” for himself. Of course, the buyer doesn’t know this. (I still don’t believe this is a widespread practice, but who really knows.)

I thanked the caller for the information and announced to my crew that I would not play that game. End of story.

Integrity is the underpinning of your brand. Once you compromise it, it’ll haunt you forever.

The life blood of every business is its relationships and reputation. So here’s what we all need to do:

• Build and sustain a brand based on integrity
• Deepen our relationships with customers, suppliers, employees, and community
• Always deliver on our word
• Surround ourselves with quality people who endorse us
• Make sure all our dealings are fair

That horse sale taught me a priceless lesson: To continue doing what I loved meant finding and building relationships with quality horse people who shared my values, and there were many. If anything helped me get business fit, the horses did.

Have you every had your integrity tested? Ever watched someone compromise theirs? What stuck with you?