On building and maintaining relationships
“Once a client, always a client.” I heard this early in my career and it has stuck for 25+ years. To me, it emphasizes how important it is to build and maintain strong client relationships, even and especially when they’re no longer a client.
I’d also add, “once a colleague, always a colleague.” While it’s unlikely that every colleague you’ll work with will remain a career or life-long contact, if you’re lucky, some will. Jon and I first worked together in 1998, our paths went in different directions for 26 years, and we reconnected in 2024 when he asked me to join the Orca pod.
Creating strong relationships makes for better work, and a better workday. I want to know about your weekend, your family, what lights you up outside of work. I want to humanize my colleagues and clients by chatting about a concert you attended, where your kid is going to college, the book you are reading. And mostly, I want to avoid the typical client/agency friction where we’re set up as each other’s ops.
At the end of the day, we spend about one-third of our lives at work. While we can’t always choose our clients or colleagues, we can choose to create meaningful relationships with them.
