Excerpt from: Do Business in Vail!
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December 19, 2008 | | Michael Kurz, Vail Valley Partnership CEO, offers holiday message | “Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.”
- Plutarch (46 AD - 120 AD)
Some of our friends are having a rough go of it out there and now’s the time to step up. We all need to be better friends when the chips are down. We know people come and go. That’s the nature of business and the cycle of life. But those of us who have from time to time been recycled know how long the days can be when we start to perceive a growing distance between what was and what is. Believe me, when you first lose a job, you get lots of support. People are sympathetic, empathetic and full of “come see me’s.” Then a few weeks go by and you feel like a zhlub for cashing in the free lunch/free beer offers and imposing your time demands on those who don’t really have much of it to give. Then, after you’ve dealt with the introspection, the awful feeling of rejection and the devastating “why me’s,” you finally start to move on. That’s when you really start to narrow in on who’s still around and willing to help.
How can you help? Be creative. If you’re a good writer, help make a resume and cover letter better. If you know folks, volunteer to be a reference. Are you a serial winner in the great lottery of professional careers? Share your job-hunting secrets. Arrange a “go see” interview in your friend’s area of interest after all, aren’t we all just separated by six degrees? Just someone who cares? Offer encouragement, have whatever fun together you can and whatever you do, stay in touch and listen. A successful recovery from a psyche-shattering event like a layoff can take months or longer. Aside from the obvious economic challenge of trying to keep on keepin’ on in a place like the Vail Valley, it’s embarrassing and stressful to lose a job, even if it’s through no fault of your own.
On a macro scale, it’s important to support your friends in times like these as well. Some of your clients and customers can’t come to play today. They can’t shop with you, eat at your place or stay with you right now. So, be cool when they call and if you can, make them a deal. If you can’t, thank them for what they’ve given you to date. Tell them you’ll stay in touch and welcome them back hardily when things right themselves.
Everybody needs a few bluebirds and bunnies in their lives right now. I look at it this way. Snow’s great. Whether you’re skiing, yack tracking, snowshoeing or building snow people in the back yard. It’s still hilarious (and free) to watch kids and dogs play in it. I still take a guilty pleasure in watching novice ice-skaters go splat. A hamburger tastes as good as a steak at the moment (especially if you’re fortunate enough to have someone else cook it) and it still lightens things up to say or hear something funny a few times a day.
It may be cold out there in more ways than one but in a personal and professional sense, we still have each other to keep this thing going and I believe that if we work hard, share what we have and treat ourselves to the free good stuff there is, we’ll be back on the fat side of things soon enough.
By the way, if you are down on your luck and having a tough time, let me make a suggestion. Do something nice for someone else. Nothing takes your mind off your troubles faster than helping someone more in need than you are.
Michael Kurz is President/CEO of the Vail Valley Partnership
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