I’m not all that fond of the word expert. It’s never been a hat that fits for me.
I like the word expertise… because it’s something you have, rather than something you are.
But I think my favourite qualifier when it comes to my job as a financial support is: guide.
A guide doesn’t know exactly what you’ll meet on your journey, but they have an arsenal of tools to help with whatever comes up.
A guide can describe the likely upcoming terrain, and how you can be ready for it.
A guide can help you buy the right gear (and steer you away from the stuff that you’ll never use and just weighs you down).
And most of all, a guide is a companion. Sometimes there is nothing to do. This is something I’ve been struggling with as I look for ways to support my community. I can not restart industries. I cannot replace the income people have lost. Sometimes all I can do is be with them in it, to talk about ideas or commiserate. To remind them that they are doing everything that is possible. Not to say everything will be okay, because I don’t know if it will. But to simply be there.
