I learned a very valuable lesson today. If you find a great supplier, it pays to keep looking around.

You see, I have this supplier, we work well together, we often barter services to one another, complementing one another’s businesses. It works well for both of us, and if I have a rush job (for example) I know that without a doubt this person, will be there, to help me out, and get the work out on time, no matter what.

But I also learned a valuable lesson.  Never become complacent, with the work you receive from people, even if they are friends. Ultimately, it is YOUR name that is on the line with your clients.

With that said, I recently had to go and find a new framer. I turned up at my old framers shop, only to find out that they had closed down! I desperately flipped through the yellow pages, calling framer after framer, to find one that could do the kind of framing that I needed.

I finally got someone on the line, who was not only very helpful, but just around the corner from my previous framer. (It’s not in what I would call a ‘great’ area, and is frequented with cars with custom paint jobs and too many spoilers!  They said they could do the job quickly, quoted me a very good price, offered me a brokers discount (as I am re-selling their service) without me even asking, and promised to text message me when the job was done.

Now had I driven past their premises previously, I would not have even given them a second glance, but because of my desperate situation, I had found them via the yellow pages, and found an absolute gem in the rough. A business, run by three generations of the same family, experts in their field, who not only did the job at the price quoted, but offered me some very valuable advice on the thing in question that I was having framed.

So lesson no. 1, never rely on just one supplier for the same thing, no matter how good they may seem

Lesson no. 2 never judge a business by it’s appearance.

Lesson no. 3 friends are friends, but business is business

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