I'm incredibly grateful for the wonderful customers that I have. Out of all the options they have to spend (or not spend) their money, they were kind enough to trust me with a very iimportant part of their business. I'm humbled and grateful for their trust in me. I've learned that by putting their interests ahead of mine, I come out ahead. My customers invariably care about me and my business and reward my efforts both monetarily and with friendship. That's why I will drop anything I'm doing when a customer needs some help. Here are a few of the reasons I love my customers.

They have enabled me to fulfill my dream of being an entrepreneur

After years of toiling in the corporate world, I started my inbound marketing business a little over 2 years ago. I've always wanted to be in control of my own destiny. While some appreciate the predictability and relative stability a career in corporate America offers, I always was more interested in a life where my personal outcomes were tied to the effort I put in and the results I achieved.

Thanks to my customers, I've reached the point where I have a predictable cash flow that allows me to invest in my business and set the stage for continued growth. Without them, I would be working in a corporate job and dreaming of a situation where I could control my own destiny. I am enormously grateful for this.

I've learned some very important business lessons from my customers

My customers aren't only a source of work and revenue, they have been a tremendous source of advice and inspiration to help my grow my business.

One of my customers is an incredibly smart entrepreneur who has built a successful SaaS business from nothing. Despite his being substantially younger than me, I consider him a mentor and a trusted adviser on anything relating to running my entrepreneurial business. Whenever I need advice, this entreprenuer is the first person I go to. He has the ability to boil a problem down to its essense and make the correct decision relatively easy to choose. I am incredibly grateful for his business and his invaluable counsel.

I have another customer who is the head sales and marketing executive at a rapidly growing IT infrastructure consultant. He has taught me invaluable lessons in how to juggle competing priorities in a way that moves the business forward in the best way. He drinks from a firehose and smiles as he does it.

I've learned invaluable lessons from all of my customers, but these are two examples of how customers help me run my business more efficiently. I would walk through a brick wall for any of my customers.

My customers give me an opportunity to create jobs

In my first two years in business, I've delivered service to my customers through outsourcing functions outside my core business of inbound marketing strategy and consulting. I'm thankful for my business partners who've helped me deliver services to customers, but I've always wanted to do my part to improve our country by creating jobs and helping people develop skils that they can carry with them throughout their lives.

I'm about to fulfill that aspiration by hiring my first employee. I'm really looking forward to bringing on a young college graduate and helping that person learn the inbound marketing business. I've talked to some outstanding young people and I look forward to starting 2015 with my first direct employee. Without my customers, I wouldn't be able to do that.

If you don't love your customers, you should either fire them or find something else to do with your life. Excellent customer service is the lifeblood of an organization.

My customers are the reason I get up in the morning - I can't wait to do things that help them and their businesses. If you ever choose to do business with me, rest assured that you will be loved too. And to all of my customers, thank you very much!