Have you ever come across a product that you’ve bought or and article that you’ve read that you have enjoyed so much that you want to share it with others? Well, I love sharing! Today I hopped online to make an early Christmas gift purchase for a friend who recently had a baby and I was inspired by the uniqueness of the product, as well as what the founder had to say about the importance of business friendships. There certainly is a feeling of goodwill when you can buy something that has meaning and you appreciate what people have to say.

Visit www.boodabrand.com

The item I was in pursuit of buying is this adorable Booda Brand organic cotton onesie. These adorable onesies caught my attention in Oprah’s magazine this past June as one of her “O Lists”.  I’ve been waiting for the appropriate opportunity to gift one off to a friend. Booda Brand is a unique line of organic gifts that embody WISDOM, WONDER & the WILL to make a difference. The shirts come uniquely packaged and offer a collection of various t-shirt themes: “Dream”, “Love”, “Peace”, “Courage”, “Imagine” and “I will Make A Difference”. What I loved most about the onesie is that for every Booda Brand purchase, the company gifts ONE book to a child in need through the incredible organization Room to Read. It’s the perfect gift and as my friends will tell you, I LOVE BOOKS! My friend will be delighted to know that her baby’s gift also empowers another child with a donated book.

I now have a wonderful feeling of gratitude knowing I purchased something for the greater good. I also am grateful that I took the time after purchasing the onesie to learn more about the inspiration behind the brand. I visited their company blog and felt instantly inspired, uplifted and connected by the words and opinions shared by Founder, Ruchika Sahai in her blog article, “Business is Personal”.

In the spirit of the holidays, I would like to express my gratitude to Ruchika for her genuine contributions. Those who take the time to share thoughts and opinions through articles and blogging hope that the words matter and it’s times like today where an article hits home.

The article is a wonderful reminder about the importance of friendships in business. Some argue it doesn’t have it’s place, but I couldn’t agree more with Ruchika. Over the years, I am amazed by people who place a higher price on getting ahead over pursuing the opportunity for an authentic relationship. What certain people don’t realize is that you can have both a personal and professional relationship and it’s truly a wonderful feeling when you can experience true kindness that is not born out of obligation, self interest, fear or guilt.

To share the voice and opinions of Ruchika Sahai, she writes in her July, 4, 2010 blog entry:

“The world has internalized the famous quote from The Godfather – “It’s not personal, it’s just business”.   However, to me business IS personal.   After all, you are dealing with people everyday in business so how is that not personal?

I cried in a performance feedback session with my boss.   I actually cried because I was so touched by the evaluation.   There’s no crying in baseball or business or so the line goes.   Since when are basic human emotions considered weaknesses?   That boss ended up becoming one of my best friends and we truly, deeply, love each other.

My now husband and I met at our interview for the same company.   Mixing business with pleasure is how I ended up married to an incredible man.

Conversations with Tinna, my partner in Booda Brand adventures, oscillate between work and the latest happening on The Bachelorette!    So it takes an hour instead of 10 minutes, but I actually look forward to conference calls now.

My most favorite “business personal” story is the one I am living right now.   The head of the creative agency I work with signs off work emails to me with “Love, Tania.”   It could be a mundane mail about brochures and I see “Love, Tania” at the end and it makes me smile.   How incredible is that!!!!

It’s all personal.

There are times I’ve been burned by being personal in business situations.   And so most of us put up walls and become the no nonsense, tough as nails, pinstriped, hair in a bun, the fun is all in my shoes caricature of a business woman.   We think that’s what will garner the respect of others.   Wrong.   A very nasty label gets stamped on instead.

And so we retort, “It’s not fair, when men are tough and mean they aren’t called names.”   Yes, they aren’t called names, but do we want to aspire to be THAT?

I’ll take being burned 10 times if it means I find a Tania or a Denise or a Tinna or a Brian any day of the week.   And I choose to be authentically me in cowboy boots, hair wild, with a rocking chair and mood lighting my office and free flowing hugs flying off my arms.  And this is when I worked in a conservative German pharmaceutical company!

Here’s the reason why – when you’re good, when you’re really good, there is no need to hide.   Good ideas, no matter how they are packaged always shine.

And if you are a Booda Brand customer or store, you know I choose to seal the deal with a hug over a handshake.   After all who doesn’t prefer a warm and wonderful hug to a cold handshake?”

So, in the spirit of the season, I’m sending out a big warm hug to Ruchika and the folks at Booda Brand for making a difference in my life today and the lives of many others!

For more information, please visit www.boodabrand.com and  www.roomtoread.org.

Live Safe Foundation is an Ohio based non-profit organization (501c3), and leading grassroots movement, devoted to making and fire and life safety education, awareness initiatives and life saving tools available on a broad basis to communities, campuses, and institutions in an effort to reduce national fire fatalities and fire losses. Live Safe aims to help finance fire safety education where means are otherwise unavailable. Live Safe is developing and sponsoring programs to help groups find the resources needed to advance individual and community fire safety.