Where in the world am I today?: At Sea in the Caribbean aboard the Emerald Princess

Lifted the movie poster for Adventures in Babysitting for today’s post because it somehow seemed appropriate. What does babysitting have to do with marketing? Aren’t Mondays on this blog supposed to be about some sort of marketing tip? Well let me tell ya. The last three days or so aboard the Emerald Princess my cruise ship agent, Wendy, has been on board with her family including her 21-month old daughter. In the chaos of being on the ship with her husband, her parents, her inlaws etc., not to mention the social/business obligations she had to meet the entertainment department on the ship, get to as many shows as possible and be “ON” as an Agent… Well the added responsibilities of the 24/7 job that is motherhood stretched energy levels a bit thin at times…

Having lived through the happy chaos of parenthood with my two boys, I recognized immediately the need to give Wendy a break and offered to keep an eye on her daughter who had already come to see several of my shows in the Piazza, so for little pockets of time when ever I saw the opportunity I jumped in as babysitter so Wendy could grab a bite to eat, or have a conversation, or check on her husband, or what ever.

So what does this have to do with Marketing?

Well people who are successful in business are successful at building relationships. In the five years that I’ve been getting cruise ship work through the Don Casino Productions office I’ve spent very little time actually building a personal relationship with the people in the office who continue to provide me with a TON of work. When I first heard that Wendy was going to be on the ship I thought that perhaps it would be my chance to ask a number of questions about the upcoming season, about getting the sort of work that I wanted to pursue, about possibly getting a pay increase, about any number of topics, but the need I saw which I could happily fulfil, that of a babysitter, will likely do more for my connection with Wendy than any three hour conversation about the state of the industry would have.

Besides, it was fun. My kids are nine and twelve at this stage and are becoming increasingly independent. Having a couple of hours to share with a younger child was actually a lot of fun because it reminded me of a much different time in my journey as a parent.

The fact that my shows so successfully kept Wendy’s daughter… Heck, Wendy’s entire family so entertained in the Piazza of the Emerald Princess will also likely put me in good standing with the agency and with the Entertainment Department of Princess Cruises as one of the things that Wendy did say to me in one of the conversations we did have was – Princess should book you for all of your available dates… They NEED you!

So… Some fun shows, a few hours of hanging out and babysitting and it feels like I achieved more in the last three days in terms of traction with my agent and Princess Cruises than I think I may have in the first five years of working through the agency… Amazing!