Jul 1

PRLesson

One of the sponsors for this year’s Relay for Life was a small local courier company. I say small because although he has a client base of 3000, his competitors are more than likely Fed-Ex, UPS, and (if you live in Canada) Purolator. These larger companies can be stiff competition. They spend millions on their advertising and marketing campaigns and their worldwide coverage makes it hard for smaller courier companies to break into the market with speedy delivery and affordable rates.

As a person who used to work for an established international distribution company, I know that there are a ton of small local courier companies out there who fight to match services and prices with these big names. I’ve used both big and small with mixed results, but the bad days stand out the most in my memory.

More than Just a Sponsor

More to the point, this is the only event that I have attended where I was shocked by the level of commitment from a sponsor. Not only did his company sponsor the new Caregiver Lap at our event, but he also sponsored the Survivor and Caregiver Laps at 6 other locations. On top of that, he sponsored the tribute Luminaries as well.

When I say sponsor, I don’t just mean that he donated money, candles and sand. I mean he collected and walked these luminaries to their designated spots around the track.

For an entire 1 1/2 before the luminary ceremony, he brought the candles down to the track and organized them in the appropriate order. At first he looked lost and frazzled, but eventually he started to find his groove. As the ceremony grew closer, he picked up his pace and started jogging back and forth between the walkers and the Luminary Kiosk.

Dedication to the Cause

On every lap, we watched him tirelessly supported all of the participants by helping them find the right place to stand and light their tributes while bag pipes played their haunting hymn.

As one of the participants, I’ve seen first hand the dedication and commitment this business owner has to his community and the people in it. I’ve seen him labour tirelessly for the benefit of others. This was more than a sponsorship to him. That was obvious.

I’ve seen him walk the track as one of us. As someone who has more than likely lost a friend or family member to the disease we can’t seem to obliterate.

Finding a New Courier Service

Like many people there, and at the 6 other events, I’m a business owner. As much as I like the “guaranteed” service of the big three (who’ve all had their share of putting me in a tough spot with a lost package), I now have a new company to consider in my business decisions.

I had never met him before this event, but because of his simple charitable act, I feel like I already know him and the values of his company. Before I send my next important package, I’ll call his company for a quote because I want him to be able to support the cause again next year.

We all will. He’s one of us now. Someone who was lost at first, but then gathered strength through the support of those around us.

P

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Jun 20
Time to Reboot
icon1 Pamela Weir | icon2 Favorite, Lessons Learned | icon4 06 20th, 2008| icon32 Comments »

Relay for Life

Recently, I read a post about rebooting on Brett Legree’s Blog. I’ve been focused on so many non-business things lately, I just wanted to see how other people got started again after a experiencing a personal slump.

I think we all fall into the habit of watching and consuming everything we can about other people’s successes that we get disheartened, and start feeling like we’ll never get there ourselves.

Lately, I’ve read so many posts about goals, dreams, successes and failures. I’ve even written one myself.

If you feel like you’re getting off track and you can’t remember what it was you wanted to accomplish, take Brett’s advice:

The solution to change is quite simple. Write down what you want to achieve. Write down the steps necessary to achieve that. Assign timelines for achieving your goals. Create a plan for knocking off one or two of the steps each day. Stick to the plan.

I’m doing that today.

From 7:00pm until 7:00am, I will be walking the track for Relay for Life. During those hours, while I’m remembering why I’m there, I’m going to take some time and reflect on what I’ve learned over the last 6 months, and the small steps I need to take to get where I’d like to be before I take the track again next year.

If you need some more inspiration, here are some great posts by some truly fantastic people:

Angela Wills: The Secret Behind My Work at Home Success

Bob Younce: My Blogging Journey

Crystal Clayton: The Dream Meme

Brett Legree: Field of Dreams - the dream meme

P

P.S. Next week I’ll be back on track. I promise.

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