Succeeding in business takes knowing people
I love reading other peoples blogs for many reasons, but at the top of my list is all the great content they think of that I didn’t. Today, Cracked.com’s post about the things they should have taught you in school was on the top of my “damn, I wish I thought of this first” list. The entirety of the post is good (although partially NSFW), but there was one section that really captured my attention. Here’s a little snippet:
# 6: Business: Success = Meeting the Right People
All of those successful people you see around town, with their convertibles and huge televisions? Approximately 100 percent of them got where they are because they had three things. All three are absolutely essential, but one of them is almost never mentioned. They are:
- Talent
- Hard Work
- Randomly Meeting the Right People and Not Pissing Them Off
The autobiographies of famous people will do everything they can to downplay that third part, because it has the element of sheer luck. People get offended when you mention it, because they think it somehow undermines the first two.
The rest of the section goes on to explain a few famous people who were discovered from pure luck – and one whom could have been, but was a total jerk to almost everyone.
What I found so interesting about this post – and why I wanted to share it – is because a lot of people feel weird/uncomfortable asking for connections. I believe that the fear comes from having to admit that you need people. I think that many of us want to believe that we can do everything on our own, that we don’t need a push up, a hand out or help reaching the right people. We all want to believe that hard work and persistence is all you need to succeed. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case. Hard work only gets you so far if you can never get your product into the hands of the right buyers. And no matter how amazingly talented you are, if no one ever sees that talent, you’ll never get noticed. Which is why, I think it is so silly that more of us don’t ask for connections.
Personally, I work hard to think of people that I know that would benefit from knowing each other and then connecting them. I want people to be successful – I want their businesses to grow – I want them to have the chance to be randomly discovered. The nice part is, introductions are super easy with technology. One email to both people, explaining why you want to connect them and why they need to meet, is all it can take to change someone’s life.
But, you can’t always rely on some one else to talk about you. Sometimes, you need to give them the prompt – ask for the referral, the contacts or the connections. This too can be done very easily, and as long as you do it the right way, can be very successful. Make sure when you are asking for a contact or connection, you always:
- Do it very politely. This would be a favor, make sure you tell the person how much you appreciate them.
- Explain why. Don’t just beg for connections, explain why you are asking them and why you deserve to get connected.
- Don’t bug people. Ask once. Then drop it. People don’t have to help, and you reminding and bugging them will just make them want to help less.
We live in a world of virtual connections and less than 6 degrees of separation. I think it’s high time that we start using these connections more effectively and helping each other a lot more often.
Who can you introduce to each other? What is stopping you?
Related posts:
- Are you connected with right people? Do you know?
- Knowing when you need help
- Is asking all it takes to get action?