My dad practiced law in North Miami Beach. On his way to work, nearly every day, he stopped for breakfast with a group of guys at a place called Corky’s. Most of the guys were there most days. They were all small business owners – a tailor, a doctor, an Italian grocery store owner, a dry cleaner. They’d known one another for years. They had their own table.

When someone needed a lawyer they turned to my dad. When someone needed a doctor they turned to the doctor. If they couldn’t help, they would know someone that could. Everybody at breakfast did business with everyone else at some point.

My dad didn’t think a lot about marketing. That was a different time and there weren’t nearly as many lawyers. But he was, inadvertently, executing on a very effective marketing plan. These guys had a strong bond; they were invested in each other’s success. They were committed to helping one another and they were effective at growing each other’s businesses.

The breakfast gang got to know one another over time. They liked each other and they trusted one another. They knew everything there was to know about each other’s business and personal lives.

Breakfast is a great time to market. It’s an easy time to be away from home and family and it happens without interrupting your day. It might be that you could use breakfast to meet regularly with the same group of people, like my dad did. Or you could use it to meet with referral sources. Perhaps you could use it to reinforce old relationships with clients. There are many possibilities.

What most of us do, and I’m very guilty of this, is sleep late enough or dilly-dally away our mornings so that we don’t have time to meet for breakfast. It’s a waste.

Corky’s is long gone but we all still eat breakfast (it’s the most important meal of the day, right?). My dad made the most of breakfast. We should too. Wanna get a bagel sometime?