A Virtual Helping Hand.

Several years ago, while working at a large financial institution in NYC, I was given the responsibility to put together a marketing campaign directed at several hundred of the bank’s financial advisers.

In order to reach these folks, I had to get my hands on a one complete list of names. A complete list did not exist because many of the sales people did not work in one locale.

I did everything you would think to do: made phone calls, sent e-mails, visited colleagues in various locations in the city, had endless meetings. No one could either get me a list or give me the name of the person in charge of The List.

When I asked my manager for help, she remarked “…you’re a vp, you should know how to get this done…” So, I was on my own…and guess what? It turned out to be a mess.

This week, here at b5.media, where I’m lucky enough to contribute, I was experiencing mind-boggling technical difficulties with this site.

I would say that the b5 community is made up of a group of very talented and, compassionate professionals. Within a very short time, Christina and Aaron, two extremely busy b5 bloggers, came to my rescue.

After several hours of research, testing and more testing, we were able to solve the problem. The fascinating aspect of this story is that I’ve never met Christina or Aaron in person. They really don’t even know me, except through occasional e-mail correspondence.

Yet, they were willing to take time out of their schedules to help, along with a few others at b5. I find this to be an amazing position to be in — considering I saw the folks at my previous job everyday and yet, no valuable help — mostly I was considered to be a pain.

So, to Christina and Aaron and everyone else at b5 media…thank you, and if I can return the favor in any way, please let me know.

image: allposters.com