Austin MacNab, founder and CEO of the Iowa-based payment processing service VizyPaywanted to hire Ricky Onofre as soon as they met at a bar Sprint shop, where Onofre worked at the time. “He was a good salesman and seemed like a very genuine guy,” Mac Nab recalls. “I just said, 'Hey, if you're ever looking for something, stop by our weird office.'” The business he had started in 2017 was still very much BEGINNING at that point, Mac Nab explains.

Sprint was about to be acquired by T-Mobile. “The writing was on the wall,” Onofre says, so he took Mac Nab up on his offer to join VizyPay in 2019. He started in tech support and made the jump to director of sales about eight months later. During the nearly three years that followed, Onofre built a team of about 45 people.

“My mindset was honestly really bad. I didn't ask for help. I was really bad about it.”

However, as the company continued to grow, so did Onofre's concerns about his work direction. He felt stagnant and didn't have that much left COMMUNICATION with or instructions from Mac Nab. “Mine mentality it was honestly pretty bad,” Onofre admits, “and I didn't ask for help. I was very sorry about that.”

Related: Stop these 8 negative mindsets that make entrepreneurs miserable

Onofre left the company in October 2022. When Mac Nab told him he was ready to move on, Mac Nab says he had a “heat of the moment” reaction — and told Onofre, “Okay, there's the door.”

In the following days, the men exchanged a series of messages. When Onofre asked about the possibility of working for one competitorMac Nab remembered himself in his 20s. “I was stubborn,” Mac Nab explains. “I was hungry; I didn't ask for help very often. I wanted to do it all myself, and that's who he is in general. He's a guy who wants to find solutions and get things done.”

“The business world is not as easy as people think. It is cold-blooded.”

Mac Nab didn't want Onofre to make some of the mistakes he made during his career.

“I've been in this business since I was 18,” Mac Nab says. “So I live it. I breathe it. I've bled this business. I'm turning 40 this year, and that's all I know. So every stupid mistake I've seen somebody make, I've made it and I have rich. Lawyers were calling me at my doorstep.

This is why Mac Nab sent Onofre a rest and stop paper. It was not about trying to prevent Onofre from making a living, according to Mac Nab; it was about protecting Onofre's professional reputation. If Onofre “started stealing employees and customers,” not only would Mac Nab's business pay the price, but Onofre would also have to deal with the consequences—at his next company and potentially beyond.

Related: Worried about your competition? Here's how to convince their customers to buy from you instead

Neither of them were thrilled that the relationship seemed to be ending on such bad terms. After Onofre received the cease and desist order, his younger cousin, who also works at VizyPay, encouraged Onofre to talk to his former boss. Onofre was at his gym when he texted Mac Nab and proposed another conversation.

“You're not just hungry. You're an entrepreneur at heart.”

Mac Nab drove to the gym and met Onofre in the parking lot. The men considered sitting on the curb to discuss, but it was a cold October evening and the sun was setting, so they opted for the car.

“We sat in a parking lot for three hours, and we talked, and I explained why (I issued the cease and desist order),” MacNab says. “And I also explained to him that you're not just hungry, you are one entrepreneur at heartand my whole point is that you don't make the same mistakes I did, whether you work with us or not. But I think it's a mistake if you go somewhere else because the grass isn't always greener on the other side.”

Mac Nab says it's rare for him to fight for an employee as much as he did for Onofre. At the end of their three-hour conversation, during which they went over breakdown in communication and what had brought them to that point, Mac Nab offered Onofre his job.

Related: 4 Expert-Backed Strategies for Improving Your Communication Skills

“We go hand in hand on this journey,” Mac Nab recalls saying. “I don't walk ahead of you; I don't walk behind you. I walk alongside you on this journey in the payments space and I hope you and your family benefit from it, and then the people you're helping benefit from it and we as a group we benefit from it”.

“I'm a very different person. I look at things very differently.”

Onofre hadn't expected an invitation to rejoin the company, but he was happy for the second chance. “I didn't want to lose the friendship we had gained,” says Onofre. “He's done a lot for me, him and Frank (Pagano) (VizyPay's managing partner), and when someone does that much for you, you don't want to end on a bad note.”

The pair “quickly brainstormed” about what it would be like for Onofre to rejoin VizyPay — “You let people down,” Mac Nab recalls telling Onofre, “(and) as soon as you left, you caused an explosion. ” But Onofre's commitment to getting back with his team helped pave the way for his return, and despite some anxiety akin to being the new kid in school, his new perspective was a game changer.

“I'm actually glad (my departure and return) happened,” Onofre says. “Because I'm a very different person. I look at things very differently. And I don't really tell people I'm (in) sales, so to speak. I'm more on the business development (side). Helping others grow their business.”

“Having an aggressive or difficult conversation a day means you're growing.”

Now, Onofre and Mac Nab communicate more than ever, even though they are not necessarily working side by side every day. “We might not talk for hours,” Onofre explains. “(But) at least something is said every day in our communication, or if I have a problem, I go to him and say, 'Hey, I need you for 10 or 15 minutes.'

Related: 7 Communication Skills Every Entrepreneur Should Master

For his part, Mac Nab has learned that it's okay to have one difference of opinionbut the key is to have important conversations, even when they're uncomfortable or challenging—and maybe especially then.

“Having an aggressive or difficult conversation one day means you're growing,” says MacNab, “or two or three—that means you'll probably learn two or three times that day how to grow. But if you're not having those conversations, you're not growing. You are failing and you will be disappointed. And that's how I look at what we do for a living.”