1.  He just shows up one day on your doorstep unannounced.

2.  He talks a big game.

3.  He’s always asking for money.

4.  He’s completely unreliable.

5.  He’s old.

6.  He thinks it’s 1982 and yellow is a fashionable color.

7. He thinks all the information he spews out is meaningful.

8.  He thinks television is technology.

9.  He thinks shouting is advertising.

10. He’s a big fat waste of space.

Sorry Uncle Yellow, but that’s the way it is.

Tekcetera has been providing infrastructure solutions, cloud services and managed IT services for Orange County businesses for the past 10 years.

In February, they launched a program to celebrate this milestone anniversary by giving back every month for each year they’ve been in business.

They’re calling it 10 Months of Giving Back.

You’re right.

It is clever.

And their PR kicks your PR’s ass.

I spoke to CEO John Pitts and you can hear his passion for his company and the community that has supported it.  So it’s not surprising that they would come up with a cool way to celebrate and do it throughout the year.

A quote from Pitts:

“We have created a very special culture of ‘do what it takes’ to care for people in both business and community.  Our ‘10 Months of Giving Thanks’ initiative is not out of the ordinary for the Tekcetera team. We have spent the past decade giving back, but for the next 10 months, we’ll give thanks as a team of one, with our managers, staff and family members. Tekcetera is proud to be in this position after 10 years in business and we look forward to the next 10 months and beyond of thanking the Orange County community that has supported us over the years.”

They started off in February with a CHOC Toy Drive for children with cancer.

And followed it up in March with a visit to Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa, preparing and serving food to local hungry residents.

 And this month they’ll be participating in the Make a Wish Walk for Wishes tomorrow and hitting a local park to do a clean up in celebration of Earth Day, which is this Sunday April 22.

Here’s the thing.

They don’t have to do this.  No one is forcing them.  They just have a quality as a company that makes them say, ” If we’re gonna market ourselves, let’s at least give back while we’re doing it and have a little fun.”

Those are the kind of qualities you want from someone you outsource services to.  Lots of companies like this are competent.  But not all of them are giving and most won’t brighten your day.

This is a shot of downtown Bangor, Maine (population: 35,473).

These are the streets I grew up on – the streets my parents shopped – the streets where you knew almost every store owner by name.

I remember the creaky wood floor at Bangor Hardware and chasing my father up and down the aisles looking for the nails and screws and tools he would need for that weekend’s project.  How he would linger at that counter (“Are we ready to go yet?” -my 7 year old brain would think), picking up tips and tricks and always heading out with a smile on his face.

We’d stop at the corner store for a couple of things and another 10-minute friendly conversation.

The whole notion of transaction or upselling or customer service not even entering into the equation.

This was life being lived.

People being people.

It didn’t hurt that my dad was the city planner.  Or that my mom wrote for the local newspaper – The Bangor Daily News.  They were naturally social people and enjoyed being out and engaging in activities, banter and commerce.

When you’re raised in an environment like that your DNA molds you into a heat-seeking community-making missile.  You know how good it can be when people help each other.  You understand the ease of social transactions and how much people cherish them.  It’s like you’ve played one video game your entire childhood – Small Town Mayor.  And you pick up points for building a thriving community, a strong business network and lots and lots of friends.

When my dad died a month before my 16th birthday that small town was there for me.  It lifted me up in ways I never understood until I looked back as an adult.  My football coach, Gabby Price, himself a successful small business owner, was instrumental in keeping me on the straight and narrow.  My uncles, who each ran their own law practices, provided paternal support.  I could walk into these men’s businesses and sit down for a talk because they were the boss.  It was their time, not someone else’s.  I just didn’t grow up around too many people who worked for somebody else.

So how does that affect you?

It places within you an instant seed of admiration for the small business owner.

You learn three things about them that are true – for the most part:

1.  They’re tough.

2.  They’re disciplined.

3.  They care about community.

What marketers like me hear from our small business clients all day long, is one thing and one thing only:

“I just want to get people walking in the door.”

And with good reason.

That is where they thrive.

That is their wheelhouse.  You and them face to face.  They will find a way to help you.  They want to create community.  They are naturally drawn to it.  It’s in their genes.

My business partner still lives in Bangor Maine and is someone I have known since I was 5 years old.  He’s one of my best and closest friends in the whole world.

Two other close childhood friends recently returned to Bangor to purchase a local bread baking business.

They are great guys, smart and driven.

We need these people around us.

They make us all better.

Infographic by MDG Advertising

Simon Sinek changed the way I do business and how I work with clients. He may do the same for you. If you are interested in reading Simon’s book “Start With Why” you can find it here.

We can come up with all kinds of reasons why things don’t work.

We can take in a ton of information, learn as much as we can and grab hold of all the tools we can find.

And none of it will matter.

Because we aren’t committed.

We have a toe in the water.

A foothold here and another one here.

I am just as guilty of it as you are.

It’s all about fear.

Marketing tries to help people deal with this fear.  Do this and you will be ok.  Buy this and everything will be alright.  Go here and forget about everything.  And that’s not a bad thing if it helps people get over the hump in the short term.

But you and I have a business to run.

And we know how marketing works.

300 your business.

Get committed to doing one simple thing into that will make a difference for your small business.  Whether its making 10 cold calls a day or asking for daily referrals or partnering with a talented colleague, make it happen.

Be a pro.

Be a Spartan.

And watch what happens.