Per the oft-taught lesson about on the importance of your network, you should never miss an opportunity to have lunch with a potential or current partner, employee or especially, customer. Most people eat lunch every day; why not make it pay off financially as well as nutritionally? And if someone is worth having lunch with, they are worth buying lunch for. Look at it as a cost of doing business – what you will spend will come back to you many times over, particularly if you make good choices regarding with whom you dine. Select the people you lunch with based on the goals that are most relevant to you, not just now, but six months or a year plus from now. Your interest in your dining partner must be sincere however; if it’s not, it will be very transparent and actually cause you more harm than good. If you don’t already, learn to genuinely enjoy learning about other peoples’ businesses and exploring ways you may be able to work together now, or in the future. It can be one of the most personally and financially rewarding aspects of running your business. For those of you working from home, you may do this less, but you still need to make the effort to do it when you can. It will pay off..
Hey Paul,
Love this post. I spend too many days eating lunch at my desk, thinking it is more productive. This gives me a different way of looking at things…and enjoy myself having lunch with colleagues. Thanks for a great tip.
Laurie