Nell Merlino is on vacation with her family and will be back to blogging on Monday, August 10th.  Until then, please enjoy guest blogging from a few of Count Me In’s experts, community members and staff.  Today’s entry is from Amy Litt, Manager of New Media and Communications at Count Me In.

At 9pm on a Friday night, I called my intern because I had to have something done.  Before I picked up the phone, I really fought myself on whether or not I was being completely ridiculous.  While I’ve worked in teams of varying skills and experience, I’ve managed vendors and contracts of six-figure projects, and I’ve had the help of plenty of volunteers at different times in my not-for-profit career…I’ll be honest.  Sara is my very first support-staff/army of one, solely my responsibility to manage.  My experience having plenty of bosses, plus producing Count Me In’s videos on how to hire, fire, and lead made me feel like I was fully prepared to be the benevolent holder of authority every employee dreams of.  And here I was, hours into a well-deserved weekend, calling my intern on her cell phone because I needed help.

“Sara?  Sara!  I’m on 82nd and Amsterdam and I can’t walk in these shoes anymore!  Bring me flip flops.  I’ll buy you a cocktail.”

I should mention that Sara lives ten blocks away from where I finally gave in to my favorite pair of heels, which had turned against me after 3 hours of treading the Upper West Side.  I should also mention that she and I have a friendship that predates our manager-managed relationship.  While hiring one’s friends is risky and, frankly, unadvisable in most cases,  I was in desperate need of someone with strong writing skills and an established work ethic, and she was a grad student in desperate need of any even-remotely paying gig for the summer.  We established some clear boundaries for the in-office and out-of-office expectations at the start, and by this point in July we were both very happy with the arrangement. 

But by calling Sara to bring me something, wondered if she would think I treating her like a dependable friend or my gopher.  I wondered if I was.  It’s hard enough to ask friends for favors, and it’s even harder if there’s any whiff of business or money involved.  I’ve had some weird experiences when I’ve been in social situations with superiors and not knowing if, by being charged with fetching drinks or answering the door, I was being a helpful friend or if, at 11pm, these were still the expectations of me as support staff.

Sara gladly showed up with sandals, forgave me for being ridiculous (she always does) and let me make it up to her with a Kir Royale at the bar where I’d parked my sorry butt to wait and have this argument with myself.  I hoped that the amount of gratitude I showed her clarified that I wasn’t just using her to get what I wanted, but asking for help from someone I knew had an interest in my wellbeing. 

So, what do uncomfortable shoes, cocktails, and the mix of business and pleasure have to do with business growth?  Well, before she left for California and New Mexico this week, Nell handed me a shiny silver press kit for Sidewalk Skincare, and a tube of Sidewalk Shoe Survival Balm.  This, she said, was given to her at a cocktail party for M3ers a few weeks ago after the WBENC conference by a friend of M3 Racer and long-time Count Me In evangelist Kris Wittenberg.  Kris had given the maker of Sidewalk, Jody Llewellyn, instructions to introduce herself to Nell and ask for advice about this product she’s just launched.  Based on Kris’s recommendation, Nell wanted me to take a look at the product and write a blog about how working your network to promote your business can do great things for publicity.  Conveniently, I was wearing an uncomfortable new pair of shoes.

Sidewalk Shoe Survival Balm is a beeswax-based product to that reducing blister-causing friction and irritation.  It comes in a miniature, hyper-modern silver container with a dial in the bottom like a deodorant or lip balm tube.  Per the instructions, I wiped Survival Balm right onto my pinky toe and the back of my heels, where my feet were starting to get irritated.  I got a little over-zealous on the first try and my shoe flew right off my foot when I got up from my desk.  With a little dab I got it right, and it worked exactly as promised by creating a silky, comfortable layer between my skin and the tight spots on my shoes.  It smells wonderful, mostly like lavender, and it feels smooth instead of greasy.  It moisturized the abused areas I put it on, and I would bet that with long-term use it would help minimize rough spots.  Survival Balm is preferable to the drug store versions you may have seen for one big reason: there are only eight ingredients, and you can recognize them all.  No bizarre chemicals, no artificial perfumes.  Just beeswax, essential oils, and happy toes. 

I’m so happy that Jody took advantage of Kris’s help to get her new product into the right person’s hands, and then on to my feet. 

Sidewalk Skincare/ Jody Llewellyn

The lessons:

1. If you know your friends want to support your success, don’t take it for granted and don’t feel guilty.  Take the help and love them for it.
2. Women are never going to give up high heels.  But we’ll keep inventing better ways to wear them.