The other day, I put the baby to bed a little bit early.

Normally he goes down somewhere between eight and nine. We’re not too hung up about the time. But on this particular night, I made sure to start our bedtime routine extra early, to make good and sure Jack was in bed well before nine.

I had a call at nine o’clock at night.

Because I have a handy little product business, as well as a membership program, I don’t really need to consult anymore. The hourly rate is pretty low, compared to the other irons I’ve got in the fire. Plus I hate people, which means you have to be pretty fucking extraordinary before I’m willing to give you one-on-one time.

So I’m not doing much consulting anymore. And I’m sure as fuck not doing it at nine o’clock at night.

Let’s flash back a while, shall we?

In the lead up to SXSW 2009, the Havinator and I were planning our days and evenings for the conference. Because of my propensity towards toplessness and Havi’s duck, we were in a bit of demand. Months before, Karl Staib of Work Happy Now invited us out for lunch.

Knowing that I’m not attending a social occasion past 11 am without a damn good drinks menu to tempt me and also knowing that Havi has the world’s most ridiculous dietary requirements, Karl scoured the earth to find a nice place for us to go. (“Somewhere nice to go” in this context means “lots of tequila and the food has no sugar, sweeteners, honeys, agaves, or derivatives”.) He gave us a map. He sent us a link to the menu. He offered a variety of possible times from which we could choose. We squeezed him in. He seemed cool and sweet enough, and if he was a crazed stalker, at least we were in a public place.

We were late. (We were to meet him and Gretchen at noon and left our breakfast restaurant – where, by the way, Havi was drinking whiskey – at 11:50.) We had already started drinking and had recently eaten our way through approximately two dozen eggs. Just in time for lunch.

Karl was gracious while I picked at my plantains, the smallest thing I could find on the menu. I tried, and failed, to be artful while I pushed them around my plate.

We chatted. It was lovely. I thought he might be a Havi-stalker-type and he wasn’t. We talked about his wife expecting their first baby. We talked about his plans for his ittybiz. We talked about work and happiness and why most people fail at ittybiz moonlighting.

Surprise, surprise, Havi and I had drinks plans, so we had to go. Karl opened our doors and paid for our plantains. He sent the thank-you note Havi and I should’ve sent but were too ill-bred to do so.

Which leads me to the present

Karl was nice to me when he had no reason to be. Because of that – albeit in a roundabout way – he is at the top of my list. I will rearrange my evening, long after work hours, to hang out with Karl and help him with his business, for free. Just because he’s cool.

When Karl invited us out for lunch, we could’ve brushed him off. We could’ve been too gosh-darned busy trying to catch a glimpse of Gary Vaynerchuk. We could’ve said, “who the fuck are YOU?!” or ignored his email, or gone on our blogs and said, “Can you believe this person we’ve never heard of expects us to go for lunch with him?”

But Karl knew that even if we did do that, it would’ve been worth it because what the fuck are we here for if it’s not to take some chances and connect with our fellow humans?

The moral? Reach out. Try. Make an effort. Get some balls.

Because you never know.

P.S. Off topic: The price goes up today on the Marketing School/Marketing 101 half price thing. If you want it, now’s the time.