Trust

 I have made handshake deals with people that ended up costing me 100's of thousands of dollars. 

First there is a bit of shock when it doesn't turn out but I settle on the feeling of graciousness. The breaking of trust was always going to go that way (I just didn't know it at the time). I was thankful it didn't happen sooner and I was able to achieve nominal amounts of success. Grateful that it didn't happen later when even more money was on the line. 

I continue to operate from a trusting place. I only want to find and work with people that have the possibility of trust. The goal is to achieve decades of trust with as many people as possible. The longer those relationships the more leverage.

In attempting to find those I need to put myself out there but maybe I hedge a little more.