Starting out with a new client is a lot like modern dating.

There are the Instagram posts (usually the first few boardroom meetings with PowerPoint decks) that make you look hip, smart, and on the cutting edge.

Then there’s the boozy dinner, and if that works, someone will do a Google research to see if you’re the real thing.

But, even if the vibe is right and your background all checks out, the likelihood of a real relationship developing are slim.

At the end of the day, one of you will have to decide if this is a relationship you want to keep going, trying, calling, and praying for.

I’m afraid I’m a bit of a lightweight when it comes to this kind of persistence.

I like to work with friends. People I’ve known for years. People l know have the same values as I do, like the same products as I do, and are heading in a similar direction.

I especially like to work with friends who stretch me and new directions and allow me to push them too.

Heck, I married my best friend and still let her push me all over the place.

Things go south between friends, of course (p.s. so far not with my best friend). When that happens, I try to end it as quickly as possible. Usually, neither of us were right in our disagreement, but we both know we aren’t right for each other anymore.

Call me a wimp, unambitious, or just a bad salesman, but my friends have been successful enough (often with my help) to keep me successful.

I’ll survive.

As I lose one friend (to retirement or a disagreement), I find I always pick up another, usually a friend-of-a-friend, heading in the same direction.