I’m in Sarasota, FL this week visiting friends and taking a break from the winter weather in the Northeast. I had two invitations to visit good friends with homes down here, and I jumped at the opportunity.

Linda Koe (pictured with me here) and I met several years ago when a colleague suggested that we might have similar creative interests. At the time, I was running my art business and Linda was selling vintage quilts and other artifacts. We partnered to create events called Celebration of Traditional Crafts which attracted lots of attention and sales including a write-up in the New York Times Connecticut Section.

As our working styles meshed and our sales grew, so did our friendship. We always celebrated after each success over lunch and conversation. We’ve since both closed those aspects of our companies, but the friendship remains. Here we are pre-bike ride around Anna Maria Island, a charming area and a good flat ride for this amateur cyclist.

I’m at the beginning of some new business relationships now that are inching forward more slowly than I’d like. Am I the only one who wishes that I could have that old-friend feeling with new prospects? One of the things I’m realizing in my maturity is that my winning style is, and always has been, slow and steady. I have to admit that I’d still love to have that immediate hit of excitement and success. But the relationships and business propositions that have been the most rewarding for me and those I work with are the ones that have developed slowly and over time.