It's Who you Know

My mom used to always threaten me by saying, "you always need to be on our best behavior because you never know whose watching you". Or, at least I always took it as a threat until I recently had the revelation that it meant something a bit different. It wasn't the empty promise of having ninja assassin mothers on patrol waiting to catch me doing something terrible so that they could use their motherly network to tattle on me, but rather a wish. A wish that I would realize the impact we have on other people, whether we know it or not, to make a difference in their life.

Several months ago, I was introduced to this guy named Kristian who had just started his own visual production company (photo & video). Like me, he was a dad to two little ones that dreamt of starting his own business and help folks put their products (no matter what they were) in the best light. Unlike me, he jumped in both feet first and just did it (I owe Nike some royalties for that one). We stayed loosely connected, or rather, he persistently checked in with me to see how my improv aspirations were coming, how my wood chucking was, well... chucking, how my Food Truck ideas were actualizing. And, what he really did was set a great example for me. Nothing was going to happen unless I did it. Again, unless I did it. No one else was going to do it for me. They were only going to encourage me in hopes that I took the plunge. So I did, ever so cautiously but whole-heartedly, nonetheless.

This hapless meeting culminated with a photo shoot a few weeks ago. Kristian brought all of his Deep River Productions gear to the Phillips Phamily Estate to capture the final stages of a farmhouse table I was completing for delivery. He didn't have to, he wasn't asked to, he just did it (dammit, more Nike money). The point of my useless rambling this blog post is to say that here's a chance meeting, one of thousands that has turned into something much bigger. It's not always what you know, but who you know as well as how you endeavor to exist within that connection, that matters.

Take a moment to visit Deep River Productions, LLC: HERE

Keep on chuckin'!