I always enjoy the opportunity to share the great advice I find on other blogs.  Last week on his blog Sanders Says, Tim Sanders wrote a piece entitled “Share the Love.” In the post, Sanders promotes the idea of offering your professional skill set to others for free.  He suggests an exercise that he tried himself.  Write down the names of all of your business contacts and then think of ways that you can help each one with your advice.  Then, actually call some of these contacts on the phone and make the offer.  The amount of goodwill that you generate from this simple act will reap great rewards for you in future business interactions.  In addition, you are helping to create a more informed associate, which likely will lead to greater and more profitable collaborations for you.

Sanders points to an April 2009 article from USA Today as the source for his benevolent experiment.  The article, “Businesses get goodwill by giving away services for free,” points out that many of us may have more free time than we would like due to the struggling economy so we might as well use our spare moments to help loyal clients who are going through a financial low point as well.  As Robert Ford, management professor at the University of Central Florida said, “If your clients weather the storm, they’ll remember that you were willing to give them a hand when they needed it most.”

I love the idea of offering your services to a fellow professional.  It’s a wonderful way of networking and it provides you a new opportunity to practice and improve your specific skills.  The more that you choose to help others, the more you will see the benefits returned to you … often exponentially.  In my forthcoming book, Act As If It Were Impossible to Fail, I stress the importance of professional relationships and offer many suggestions on how to develop them.  You will not reach your highest potential in your career without the assistance of, and partnership with, others in your field.  The time to start building those relationships is now.

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Act As If, Career Acceleration, Giving Back