I love referrals.  We all love listing referrals, no?  And I just received a referral from a dear friend that I met 10 years ago at a board meeting.  Priya and I met when I was on the board of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.  We became great friends and stayed in touch even after I left the board about 5 years ago.

Which is a great reminder to me and to us all that volunteering in your community is a great thing.

Not only do you feel great getting out and helping others, but you also make some great contacts and friends.

And it doesn’t hurt if those contacts/friends give you referrals, right?

In the last 20 years, I have been on the boards of the San Diego Hospice Corp., the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Visual Aid: Artists for AIDs Relief and the Child Abuse Prevention Society.

And with each volunteer gig, I met some incredible people doing some incredible work in the community.  Doing this is a great way to give back and make your heart soar.

And it’s been a great source of listing referrals as well.  Not a bad side benefit of giving back to your community!

And getting referrals this way brings to mind my two favorite words….doing this is cheap and easy.  

My advice if you’re going to do this is to find something that really resonates with you, something you can get really excited or passionate about.  It makes the time spent more easy and rewarding.

So go out there and find a charity or maybe your child’s school or maybe an organization that really needs your help.  

Give back.  Have fun.  Feel good.  Meet new people.  And if some referrals fall into your lap, so much the better.