Who would ever thought of the impact that the Internet would have on both our social and business lives way back when? Shoot, that last sentence makes me sound old....not that there is anything wrong with that:-) Yet here I sit, this guy in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I am a guy, who because of the Internet, has friends and associates all across the land. Active-Rain played a huge part in developing that to an even greater scale. Here I am, with friends in Florida, Maryland, West Virginia, California, Arizona, and I can't forget my friends over in Nigeria who selflessly want to deposit large sums of money in my bank account once every 2 days. All of this made me think of something this morning and once again, just a moment ago. If and when the opportunity presents itself, would I want to do business with these people...minus those feisty spammers in Nigeria?
When I started out in Mortgage Lending, I was asked if I had any family or friends who I could make loans too. Well, most of my family was out of state and most of my friends had trouble paying rent in between bar bills, so of course I had to start the hard way. I had to start from scratch.
There were two schools of thought on this that I witnessed. One was that you should never do business with family and/or friends because if God forbid something goes wrong, it could sabotage that relationship indefinitely. This school of thought was ignited further when I was informed of a very true, if not totally disturbing reality, in the lending business. That reality is you can do everything right on a transaction and the loan still may not close. After all, there are so many variables in each individual transaction that are out of our control. Even if it isn't remotely my fault, who do you think they'll blame?
The other school of thought was kind of my own. While I didn't have the opportunity at that time to make loans to friends or family, I always thought in the back of my mind, "Who else would I trust to look out for their best interests?" Now, after 6+ years in the business, I've probably made over 20 loans to friends and family. Not one went bad, there's a little luck involved with everything.
Fast forward to now. Fast forward to this particular forum. If you are anything like me, which may be dangerous if you are:-)...you've gotten to know and become rather close to a lot of people all over the country through Active-Rain. While I haven't formally met the majority of them, I do wonder if I would do business with them or them with me?
To begin with, we have an on-line reputation to uphold. If anything were to go wrong, whispers and emails may go flying and all of a sudden the once sought after 'You' becomes an incompetent person. Not good! I mean, come on, the majority of us try to put our best foot forward and who out there in cyber-land wants to point out their mistakes and flaws in front of what can potentially be over 45,000 people, not to mention the consumer?
The other thing is, perhaps the fear of a tarnished relationship creeps into your mind because of a business relationship gone astray. Money is a powerful thing, especially when you deem another the reason it didn't enter your respective checking account. Your social standing drops, once friends now become indifferent wallflowers at best...and all you came here for was a bit of business exposure and then became engulfed in a social network where a lot of the people who liked and respected you....think your professional existence is a cynical hoot.
These thoughts raced through my head, faster than I could possibly type. Would I do business with My Active-Rain Friends? You are darn right I would! I've gotten to know the person behind the professional. I've gotten to know the care behind the competence. Might they make a mistake in a transaction we are involved in, maybe? I've had squabbles with my friends, my best friends, before. I've had those differences in life, and sometimes business, and plan on having them again. However, I can't put a price on trust and there is nobody I'd rather do business with, mistakes and such, than with the guy or gal I can trust.
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