No Excuses!

I haven’t owned a car for several years. I rent a car when needed, or cadge a lift off someone I know going to the same function, tossing in some cash for gas money.
Tonight’s networking meeting is, annoyingly, about 10 KM to the east of me, but is not accessible by public transit. A cab fare is going to set me back about $20 + tip each way. Add in the entrance fee and it starts to add up.
My attitude towards life is “No Excuses!”. In this case I can hear the excuse starting up at 9:00 a.m., a full ten hours before the meeting. “I don’t have a car”, “It’s too far”, ‘It’s too expensive”, “The bus doesn’t go anywhere near there”, and so on.
Enter a brainwave!
A colleague, a self-employed technical writer lives a mile west of me.
I invite Paul to come along and tell him part of the deal is that he has a car, and I’ll pay his entrance fee and gas money. Together they aren’t going to come anywhere near $40.
I save some cash AND have some conversation AND look good in the eyes of the networking group, because I’m introducing a guest to the event.
Paul gets an opportunity to network in a group he has not met before.
The networking group has another opportunity to shine in front of a newcomer.
That’s not a win-win situation; it’s a win-win-win situation!