How’s things been going? Well here. I apologize it’s been so long since I said hi, seems like I’m here today and gone tomorrow sometimes.
I sincerely hope things have been going well for you!
I was thinking yesterday about something that happened to me about 13 years ago…right around the time I was divorcing my first wife (the, thankfully, former Mrs. Farnell) and before I met my current wife, the love of my life.
I had a friend named Michael. Michael and I were about the same age and spent a lot of time running around in bars, etc before we were married.
We got married about the same time, and the, thankfully, former Mrs. Farnell became close friends with Mike and his wife. So much so that we spent New Years Eve of 2000, you remember Y2K, at their house.
A few months later the, thankfully, former Mrs. Farnell and I were going our separate ways, and I dropped off the face of the Earth with virtually everyone I knew, including Mike
He tried to call me, left me messages, emailed me, even sent me a letter via snail mail. I was too much in a funk to respond. His life was wonderful and mine was falling apart…I wasn’t jealous, I just didn’t want to bring him down.
Once I shook off my funk, I was, honestly, too embarrassed to call Mike. He had been a good friend and I treated him like a leper. He didn’t deserve it, clearly. I was just too broken at the time to stay in touch.
Years later, I ran into Mike at a restaurant. It was good to see him. We were past being close friends but I had a chance to apologize and explain. He understood, and there were no hard feelings.
By that time our lives were too divergent for us to remain close friends…I was single and trying to build a business, he was married and established in his life. We talked a few more times on the phone, but it was clear we were just in different places.
The important thing to note is, if we weren’t in such dramatically different places in our lives, we’d have been just as good of friends when we ran into each other in that restaurant as we before I disappeared. He understood and there truly were no hard feelings.
Same thing happens in marketing. Sometimes you get busy, side tracked and you don’t stay in touch with your people as often as you should…(my face is a little red right now!)
I find folks understand, and if you reach out, they’ll be there to hear.
Thanks for giving me a minute and don’t forget, there’s a customer or prospect you haven’t talked to in a while, so pick up the phone or send an email right now!
Talk to you soon!
Everte Farnell
The Copywriter in a Kilt!