And, I love YOUR brilliance, your complete commitment to your clients, and also your integrity, determination, and generosity. You are a wild success! And I am so honored to know you!

EXCELLENT Adam… I lOVE that approach. And I also love your site… Thanks for stopping by! I hope to hear more from you more often! =) And, you are so so right… It’s funny… when I used to meet with people for these coffee dates, I’d find that NOTHING EVER changed for them…. They are just information seekers… if they were DO-ers, they’d be more committed than a cup of joe! =)

And the moment I get a whiff of “pick your brain” or “want to run something by you” I’ll say something like:

“I’d love to help. For the rest of this month, I’m kind of tied up with two launches and a big email campaign my top clients are doing. (“clients” is a one-word way of saying “I get PAID for what you’re hoping I’ll donate.”) Perhaps in six weeks once things cool off on this end.”

Usually they scatter.

Now if they return to me a month later, and are taking a true business approach, then we can have the conversation about services and solutions. If the approach is “about that cup of coffee” then depending on my mood and the vibe I’ll say either:

a) “Weren’t you working on that, like, 3 months ago? Why isn’t it done yet?” (implying if it really mattered, they’d stop slurping coffee and get a move on).

b) “Funny thing, I just landed this new thing. Gonna be nuts here until (insert next Federal holiday even if it’s 3 months away).”