Today I had a casual meeting with a young woman about twelve years younger than me. She came to me to discuss a real estate transaction, but in getting to know one another we began talking about her business. When I shared my marketing experience our conversation quickly shifted to marketing ideas for a project she's planning.
This young woman has big dreams and big hopes - but - she didn't plan for the big picture. She explained to me that she was going to become the premier service provider in her area by planning one event a month. When I asked her "what's in it for you?" she didn't have an answer. She didn't understand why I was asking.
I told her if she was only planning the events for the money she was missing something. (my opinion)
Her approach is very unique and in my opinion, she is going to be a huge hit - but she was not looking into the future. She did not recognize that in addition to earning great income that she was about to miss the chance to:
- Build relationships with nearly every not for profit in the city
- Have an opportunity to partner with the city to accomplish her goal
- Secure media attention - createa buzz and drive attendance
- Connect with local charities to recruit interns to work on her project
- Mentor young/men and women through internship process
- Prepare those interns to move forward to career positions
- Guarantee the attendance of many local VIP's
- Use the success of her event to build new events and duplicate her efforts; and
- We focused on short term and long term financial planning, and budgeting
She was only focused on making money and didn't focus on building sustainable relationships and financial security.
Talking with her was great for my ego - she was all smiles, asked one question after another, and made sure she understood how one step effected the next. The conversation was going great, then she said something that made me switch gears. [While we were talking I told her about multiple projects that I was working on]. She asked me "How do you keep it all together?".
I realized I had not really addressed my hardships. So I took a moment and assured her that I was no smarter than she was. I told her "I keep it together because I have to" - I made sure to tell her that failure is painful, but I have learned from mistakes and use my experiences to plan for my future... more specifically I told her what my father used to tell me.
I'm not smarter than you... I've just lived longer.
Throughout my career I've always freely shared information and ideas. Sometimes being so open has hurt me - more often it has enriched my life and allowed me to build beautiful relationships. Today I believe I built a beautiful relationship.
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