My kind of Business Man

I wanted to relate a experience I had the other day regarding a particular business man and the impression he left me.

I've been marketing a particular "Go Green" product package to Realtors as thank you gifts. Whenever I have moved and bought a house (I moved 10 times in 11 years in the Army), I always got a thank you gift. Something usually like a fruit basket or flowers and always unexciting.

Well, an associate of mine recommended that I put together a "Green" thank you gift for Realtors. It would be a unique gift that would definitely stand out. It was full of non-toxic, biodegradable cleaners and other stuff from my business. What is the last thing that people think of when they move in and what is the first thing they do? Clean-up before they move their stuff in! Why not have them do it in a green and non-toxic way? That kind of gift would definitely make the realtor stick out in a buyers mind.

Anyway, I had set-up an appointment with one individual to have him look at this gift for his business. 9AM sharp on Tuesday.

Well, as it turned out, on Monday came around and I absolutely needed to take my daughter in for something the next morning. Couldn't get around it. There was no way I was going to be able to help my daughter AND go to that appointment I had set.

Now, in my previous life as a "Big Bidnez" man, cancelling on anything was extremely frowned upon. Damn the consequences.

One bad experience I had was when I missed out on the end of a small project because the deadline had moved on me.....a month before it was due. I had plans to go see my terminally ill mother across the country and I was not going to change them. I had made arrangements for a colleague of mine to cover down on the project for me and nothing was going to be missed.

As a result, I went on my trip, and caught a huge amount of flack from my boss for it. That is my impression ....up until now....on how businesses operated unfortunately. Another straw that drove me to leave corporate America.

Anyway, I called him expecting to get an extremely negative reaction from him. But, I had to take care of my daughter so I needed to re-schedule. When I talked to him and explained the situation, he said something that I will remember for a long time, "Ahh don't worry, family always comes first. If that wasn't true with you or anyone else, I would absolutely not be interested in doing business with you or them!"

Wow!! So instead of coming out with a horrible feeling, I felt elated and confirmed that I am doing the right thing being a SAHD/WAHD.

Kudos to this guy. I still haven't met with him to cover the original appointment, but I would do anything he asked and will refer all the business I can to him!

He is definately my kind of business man AND I am going to remember the statement he made!