Giving a helping hand
I’m about the luckiest woman I know. This is an actual picture of my refrigerator. Because it is absolutely empty almost all the time (the big white pan is there to catch drips; the bowl holds an apple from before Thanksgiving), a couple of good friends feel sorry for me and give me leftovers. Really good leftovers. I appreciate their assistance very much, and I love them all the more for it.
As an owner of a professional copywriting service, I have other small business friends with figuratively empty fridges of one kind or another. One of my great friends was a client for a while until his marketing budget ran out. We still meet to brainstorm and strategize and think of new marketing ideas, all for no charge, of course. Another friend is in desperate need of an online advertising campaign, a la Google AdWords. I’ll be meeting with him soon to figure out a plan. My landlord has a new business idea. He came to me — well, to fix the drip in my fridge — but he asked me about my pricing to do a couple of flyers. Instead of giving him my hourly rate, I asked him to think in terms of the audience for the flyers before he created them. Who needed to get the flyers and how could he reach them? In other words, I played the friend who helped out for no charge.
I’m happy to help out friends and acquaintances who need a hand, just like my friends are happy to give me a little leftover pasta and an occasional frozen container of soup. It’s all a part of collaboration toward achievement. As I put it to my friend/former client this morning as we brainstormed new ideas for 2008, “We’re on a tandem bike together, pedaling toward success.”
By the way, this post is a direct result of a meme by Life With Buck — the challenge… take a picture of your fridge and post it. Wendy didn’t tag me because she said a post about my fridge wouldn’t be relevant to my business.
In my life, everything’s relevant to my business. 
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Moonbeam McQueen on 03 Jan 2008 at 3:03 pm #
Ahhhh, you made me feel better! And only you can turn an empty fridge into a life lesson!
David Levine on 03 Jan 2008 at 7:38 pm #
OK Z, that’s a pretty cool response to Wendy’s Fridge Meme! I mean that very sincerely.
Clearly you need to unplug that fridge and stop wasting electricity. Or you should fill it up with bottles of water, as the fridge will use less juice if it’s got some thermal mass inside.
Wendy on 03 Jan 2008 at 7:39 pm #
Wow, you have done (what I thought was)the impossible! I have a whole new respect for you! And your fridge is awesome, oh how I wish I could keep mine like this. I think I’d have an anxiety attack and pass out if a box of something really fattening wasn’t within arm’s reach. Thanks for participating in this. Now that I know you are magic, I won’t even hesitate to tag you in the future!
Wendy on 03 Jan 2008 at 7:40 pm #
I have no idea why my old avatar is showing up over in your sidebar. The Interweb is such a mystery.
"C" on 04 Jan 2008 at 6:04 am #
I wish I could run over some of my better ‘leftovers’ to share with you! And it has nothing to do with it being 14 degrees today in Mass and you happen to live in sunny CA!!
Beth on 04 Jan 2008 at 8:18 am #
Ms. McQueen, if we were to team up for dinner, we’d be in trouble.
David, have I thanked you yet for stopping by? Umm. Thank you for stopping by. And you’re right about making the fridge more efficient since it’s empty. I’ll figure that out.
Wendy, thanks for the challenge! I work best when people say something can’t be done (thus this whole work-for-myself thing.)
C, Grab the Gladware and come on over. We can sit on the beach and eat your leftovers, sipping wine as the sun sets.
(Note: The beach has sand. Sand tastes bad in food. Maybe we’ll eat before we go to the beach.)
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