The Wise Tale of The Busy Fool

My first mentor told me the story about ‘the busy fool’ and some collaborative work I did today brought it to mind. 
Years ago I was sitting with my seasoned mentor, and I remember saying ‘how can I market myself! I feel so vulnerable selling myself. I can do it for others, but not for me.”. He grinned in response and replied:
“I once supported two new business owners. One drove his shiney new car from city to city, providing his consulting services, feeling important and feeling like he was really ‘doing something’. The other business person, she put a day aside a week, and she make the effort to contact all the past clients she has worked with. She’d call, or email and she would enquire about their lives and their businesses and she would offer something that they might need, and she wouldn’t even offer her own service, but she did nourish the relationship. 
Guess who had more work and made more profit and indeed used less petrol?”
I like this marketing model, not because I don’t want to whizz about in a shiney car, but because I do want to build the relationships. This approach is low risk, low to the ground. It builds trust and is absolutely bespoke to each individual she contacted. It is considerate, thoughtful and respectful. It is about one human genuinely helping another. This is what makes for authentic relationships. This is authentic business, This is a clear transaction and isn’t ego based. It’s about genuine concern and humanity. 
So when my Colleague said the words ‘I don’t wanna do all that in your face marketing-y thing” I entirely understood. Marketing can be about about the real conversations with real people about real things.
Nothing too complicated about that then…….
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