The School Reunion

I recently attended  my 25 year school reunion.  25 years I hear you say?  Yes I nearly choked on it too.

Many people have mixed emotions when faced with a school reunion and I think your personal reaction to one of these invitations is largely based on whether you are happy with where you are in life now and how happy  you are about the person you have become.  I have to say, despite some reservations,  I was actually excited to attend my reunion and curious to see where everyone else has ended up.

My best friend in high school is still my best friend,  so I also had some moral support  from someone who was also feeling the trepidation.  After all The Mean Girls will still be there and still be mean and scary right?  There’s still safety in numbers.

The hilarity is that despite the years, the changed hairstyles, the weight changes, the Botox  and enhancements, (more on that another time), most of us were still immediately recognisable as the same pimple faced teenagers we were when we last met.  And for the most part, after the formal “hellos” we still tended to drift into the familiar old groups.   Hilarious.

On arrival we had been presented with a few mementos of our night, one of which was a copy of the school directory.  At the risk of being labelled a 'private school twat'  I should mention at this point that through the hard work and dedication of my parents, I was privileged enough to attend a private school and this little posh looking blue book was a listing of businesses owned or operated by members of the schools community.  Why is it relevant I hear you ask?  Well it just turns out that my particular target market as a Virtual Assistant happens to be high net worth individuals, consultants, sole traders and businesses and here I was handed a gold mine of contacts in my chosen niche.  And to top it off at the back of this little directory is an invitation to advertise my own services.  Yes please!
It struck me that this method of advertising your business is largely untapped and under rated and directories such as these are by no means limited to private school communities and can be equally effective in primary schools, kndergartens and child care communities.  Depending on the chosen demographic you are targeting, naturally.  By even being a member of one of these community directories a certain level of trustworthiness and credibility is implied which is often the hardest thing to convey or establish in any advertising medium.  After all, any shonky business experience is rapidly exposed to other members of the community and there is the uncomfortable potential of bumping into your disatisfied customer on a daily basis when handling the school drop off and pick up.  Definately something  to be avoided.

www.theexceptionalassistant.com.au