Today I had the great opportunity to have lunch with three friends. These folks started out as being part of some of the same professional networking groups and now we have just kind of evolved into more of a friendship relationship.Today I learned from this group of friends that:
One has a husband that needs a special type of prescription medicine just to stay alive
One has a husband that shops at Aldi and loves it
One took her soon to be ex-husband's pristine vet out for an afternoon drive in a driving rain and mud storm and let it set for three days so the mud would get nice and solidly set all over it. (note to self, don't ever "unfriend" this friend!)
I learned about their other social activities, what other groups they are in and how they spend their free time.
I learned that one doesn't like to force smiles all the time, because she doesn't want to be fake. I learned that each of them has in their past the opportunity to stand up for themselves in business and did so with lots of class.
We didn't "pass" any business today, there was no pressure to fill out slips, sign attendance sheets or be accountable for or to any weird networking rules. It was just plain fun. We were just being ourselves. We really learned about how we could help each other. We made suggestions and had great, honest discussion about our businesses.
I have done business with two out of the three friends and will look for ways to do business with all of them. Not because of a sense of obligation but because on a Monday they took time out of their business day to have lunch and just chat.
It was great fun and I am looking forward to the next time we get together. At the end of the lunch we didn't all whip out our calendars and set our next date...we simply left each other with a see you soon, have a great week departure.
Yes, we will definitely be getting back together soon, no doubt about it....that's what friends do. And in business friend relationships are always the better relationship to have! You can move mountains when you have friends - they are always better!
3 comments:
I'm proud to call you a friend :)It was so nice to just be ourselves and enjoy one another's company.
No pressure.
Can't wait til our next luncheon, or maybe dinner then we can have wine! LOL
As I got into my car after our meeting, I thought what a GREAT meeting! It was wonderful to be open, honest and candid about so much. I truly look forward to when we chat again. I'm excited for each other on the new opportunities we each have before us.
My vote is for wine!
Hah! I came here from Angie's blog. This is a great blog, too. Like you I would never unfriend Angie. She knows revenge tatics too well. Bet Nimrod never recovered from the muddy vet.
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