My Friend Adrian … Yo Adrian, Thank you!

It is a very special thing when a work friendship transitions into a real-life friendship. I have been fortunate enough to have many relationships like this in my life. For me, there is no better example of this than my good friend Adrian Hoppel

Adrian is turning 50 this weekend, show him some love in the comments!!

Adrian might be one of the most Philly people that I know. I first met Adrian in March of 2008 when he joined the publishing company where I worked. I was on the editorial side and he was in sales. We hit it off on a personal level right away. He had young kids and I was about to get married. From my perspective, he wasn’t like the typical BS salesperson that I was used to dealing with. He had a creative side and lots of ideas to improve the products on all fronts.

Like many great work relationships, we bonded over ridiculous people at our company and the corporate buzzwords they threw up in meetings to appear intelligent.?

He started a side startup and I helped by doing some video work for the project and other marketing. I started a side startup and he helped by writing for our online magazine. Shout out to ProLong Magazine and The College Journal.?

Something happened to his car and we started carpooling from our neighboring towns in the Northwest section of Philadelphia out to Malvern. After his car was fixed we kept carpooling because it was more fun brainstorming together than cursing the traffic on 76 alone.?

Adrian’s star was too bright for that company and he eventually left. I wasn’t long after him. We forged a bond stronger than steel in that experience and kept in touch. I went on to work for a West Coast software company and Adrian decided he was done with the 9 to 5 and started his own web design company.?

When my father died in 2015, I had no idea who might show up to the funeral. I was in a daze when I turned around and saw Adrian’s friendly face all dressed up in a suit. He once told me after leaving sales that he hated suits but kept one around for weddings and funerals.

A few years later I was interviewing innovative leaders and he introduced me to his friend Felicite who was running multiple tech companies in my neighborhood of East Falls. I interviewed her for The Huffington Post (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-your-company-can-inno_b_9750648 )

That introduction by my friend Adrian blossomed into a job offer for Marketing Director at one of the tech startups resulting in my favorite working experience of my entire career.

I probably never properly thanked Adrian for that introduction that changed my life, so Thank you, friend.?

During the early days of the startup Adrian and I got to hang out a lot. We had the entire downstairs of the office to ourselves. He was ramping up his web design business and would come into our offices and work out of there. One of those days he came in wearing the t-shirt from my old startup and we shared a great laugh of how things can quickly go full circle in life.

We broke bread across the street at our favorite pizza spot, Golden Crust III. We were never sure where Golden Crust I and II were located but we were sure they were also special places.

Adrian is a great listener, that’s probably why he is excellent at building websites for his clients. He would never try to overly advise and would listen to me complain about the challenges of being a new dad and working at such a youthful tech company. I felt tremendous guilt about having to leave the fun of the office each day to pick up my kids from daycare while my peers stayed late having beers and working. He always put my mind at ease and brought the focus back to the importance of being there for my kids.

I learned so much about being a decent dad and husband just by watching how Adrian lives his own life.??

This is a great spot to mention, that if you are in my network here on LinkedIn and you know someone who needs a website built for their business, I highly recommend Hoppel Designs for your next project. Reach out to Adrian here https://hoppeldesign.com/

For those just starting in their career or for any level really, I encourage you to make work friendships that are deep and powerful and transcend any position or company.?

Happy birthday friend!