Why you should pay attention to your friend’s professions

When I ran my own law firm, I decided to use consultants in an effort to grow my firm.  One of my good friends referred me to someone.  He was very good.   However, after a while, my wife (who was also my office manager) asked me a serious question:

“Why are you paying him to do for you what you have friends who do this already?”

I had to stop for a second.  This guy was a business consultant who was speaking with me about marketing, bookkeeping, case development, business management, IT and accounting.   I valued his opinion but when my wife asked me the question, i had to stop and ask myself, “Do I have friends who do this already??”

Of course, the answer was yes because, my wife said so.   However, it was more than that.   A lot of us feel that we don’t want to bother our friends in their chosen profession.  We don’t want to be a burden.   Unfortunately, what happens is that by keeping our lives so separate, we totally overlook the skills they have that can help us.

For instance, I have a fraternity who a marketing executive for an NFL football team.   And he sat down talked to me about leveraging my social media accounts.  I have another fraternity who is a CPA/Tax Attorney.   One of my best friends is a maverick in the IT industry.  And I had ALL KIND of friends who are gurus in case and business development. 

And guess what?  When I asked for their help, their first thing was “Why did it take you so long to ask?”

Recognize that you have a vast array of personal resources accessible to you.  Your friends are truly a blessing.   Don’t hold back from asking for their help.   Trust me.  You would help them if you could.

#motivation. #inspiration

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