What's a friend?

Sitting here, on a freezing Sunday afternoon. I came into the office with the goal of catching up on a lot of loose ends. I'm actually successfully plowing through all sorts of stacks, and forms - and emails. And then I had a chance to reread an email from a fellow classmate - and it inspired me to write this blog post.

Fellow classmate? Well, about a year ago, I applied to what I will simply call the 10 week MBA refresher course. Actually for me, it would be the first time around - as I don't have an MBA. The course was funded by Goldman Sachs - yes, that Goldman Sachs - and it was called 10,000 Small Businesses. You can read about it here - and maybe even apply!

I thoroughly enjoyed the course. I learnt a lot, and it gave me a chance to step back and review my company and my life. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits for me was to be in a class with 30 something other small business owners. Roofers, printers, sound system engineers, HVAC and on and on. One of the attendants was Rachael Ekey of The Markey Group. Rachael's company is a full service marketing resource. I never reviewed Rachael's sales numbers - but I just have this feeling that she is a successful businesswoman - because she is very good at what she does - and she is a very nice person. Yes, I believe that good people succeed - and I believe that goodness is important to success. 

Rachael noticed that I was struggling with social media, things like Facebook and effective email marketing. Rachael threw the full force of The Markey Group at my disposal. She taught me a lot of methods and practices for getting the most out of this 'thing' called marketing - and the web. And that brings me to the email at the beginning of my posting. It was a simple - yet awesome. The email starts off

Hi Simon,

I hope you are doing well and are off to a great start to your week! 

Kristin and I were brainstorming the other day and we had a great idea for an opportunity for your business...

and then the email goes on to explain a method for improving the rating of my web site. I reread the email today  - and it caused me to think about friendship. About wanting to see another person succeed. About sharing knowledge and about spreading some sunshine. It made me stop and think of how I could help another person. It made me want to write about it - and so here I am. After 25 years, I know that my customers are from the 'Givers' in this world - along with the 'Carers' the 'Sharers' and the 'Sunshiners'. (I hope those are all clean words.) Something about caring for animals will do that - Thank you for letting me be a part of that! I'm going home now - work can be done tomorrow - family is for today! I'm feeling very friendly!

All the best,

Simon & The Gang