Saturday, October 11, 2008

"Use" Is Not a Four-Letter Word

My friend Rozanne Gates is not afraid to ask for help. As the Director of Development for the Fairfield Theatre Company and a naturally gifted fund-raiser, Rozanne lives by the credo that we're here to use others and be used in return. "The only way we get to prove who we are and what we're made of," she explains, "is when we're asked to step up to the plate." With every molecule of her being, she believes that she's doing people a favor when she reaches out to them. She's giving them a chance to "strut their stuff."

As someone who has always been timid about asking for help, I'd love to be able to adopt Rosie's attitude.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:42 AM

    Same here, Prill! For the past two months, a friend and I have been organizing a charity tennis tournament for our favorite charities. Maybe it was life lesson time because I was named the person responsible for getting sponsors. Oh no! Personally, I hate to ask others for money. Actually, I hate asking anyone for anything. But I made myself do it anyway. And what I discovered is that most were looking for good projects to support. Most said YES! And we ended up giving a nice sum of money to four charitable organizations in town.

    We're doing it next year!

    What a timely post, Prill. Our tournament was yesterday.

    Allyn

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  2. That's great, Allyn. I love it!

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  3. What an interesting angle on an old PR maxim, that the best way to sell something is to be of USE to someone.

    Best,
    Carolyn Howard-Johnson
    Author of the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter
    www.howtodoitfrugally.com

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  4. So glad to find this blog! I will stay tuned...

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