Thanksgiving and Thanks-getting

Last week on a flight back from Toronto, a man several aisles ahead of me couldn't find a place to store his oversized garment bag. I offered to store it under my seat as I was in the emergency row, and had plenty of legroom, being as vertically challenged as I am. When we landed, I carried the bag to his seat. He expressed astonishment and was profusely thankful. In the airport, I stopped at Hudson News to grab a business magazine, and as I went to pay for it, a hand came into view with a credit card. To my surprise, behind me stood the man from the plane who then paid the clerk. He said in a beautiful British accent that I had made his day and walked away. His random act of kindness, which I guess he felt matched mine, made my day, too.

Next week we are all most likely to be busy and overwhelmed: trying to get 5 days worth of work into 3, traveling to and from family and friends’ homes to cook, eat and celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, and heaven forbid, diving into Black Friday shopping madness. Often, in that chaos, we forget to actually reflect for a moment and be thankful for what we have. I wanted to reach you before this busy week to share with you what I am thankful for.

This Thanksgiving (and frankly, everyday) I'm grateful for my family, friends, clients and colleagues. Thank you to our clients who believe in our capabilities in handling your financial affairs. Thank you for the business referrals that make up almost 90% of our business. Thank you to the clients we have, some for more than 20 years, and thank you to our past clients, some who have still been referring us for more than a decade after we parted ways. Thank you to all the business folks I’ve had the pleasure of sitting with and learning so much from at ALL of our business meetings, seminars, meet-ups, and conferences. (Yes, I’m a networking junkie!) A special thank you to my team, past and present, intern and employee, who make me still bound into work 27 years later, and keep me excited and on-target, and who interrupt, disrupt, innovate, motivate, contemplate all day long how to make our two companies, Benay and For Beginners, a great place to spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week (more time than spent with family and loved ones).

I’m also giving thanks to you—all the people who make time to read my business blogs; and am feeling thankful from all of your support and well wishes, and occasional critiques.