# 36

"If you help others, you will be helped. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in a hundred years, but you will be helped. Nature must pay off the debt. It is a mathematical law and all life is mathematics." George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (Philosopher)

Several years ago I was introduced to a book, Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, by Harvey Mackay. Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty contains advice on how to build and maintain the network you need to be successful. What is networking? Networking is the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions.

After reading a series in the New York Times about downsizing of corporate America, Mackay reached six conclusions:

1. Talent alone will not save you.
   
2. Traditional advice--more training and education will not save you.
   
3. The government will not save you.
   
4. Not matter how self-reliant, dedicated, loyal, competent, well educated, and well trained you are, you need more than you to save yourself.
   
5. You need a network. You need your network. Every day. A network will help you deal with some of life's minor annoyances as well as your most challenging problems. Your network can provide you with role models, advise you, comfort you, provide you with financial assistance, intellectual and social resources, entertainment, and a ride to work in the morning. Without it, you'll have a hard time finding a client, making a sale, seeking a job, hiring the right employee. To say nothing of the personal stuff, like locating a competent doctor, buying a house, or deciding on a nursery school for your kids.
   
6. He would share what he had learned from a lifetime of networking.

"If I had to name the single characteristic shared by all the truly successful people I've met over a lifetime, I'd say it is the ability to create and nurture a network of contacts." Harvey Mackay

The result is Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty (Doubleday, New York, 1997).

The first use of networking that I can remember was the summer between my junior and senior year in college. A teammate had talked me into going to Nashville, Tennessee with him for a summer job. The company was the Southwestern Corporation. I had no idea what I would be doing or where I might end up, except that I would spend several days training in Nashville. The training was intense. We were being taught to become door-to-door salespeople. And, we would be selling bibles door-to-door.

We were sent to Alabama, Evergreen and Brewton to be exact. We were headed to the heart of the Bible Belt--where every house already had at least one bible. We had to find our own housing, arrange for permits (if necessary), and meet with some of the local people. We were to meet several of the local ministers upon arriving in town. And, once we had met with the ministers, we could name drop--I was just talking with Reverend Smith, and that usually got us entry into the house to make our sales pitch. As we sold we would have a list of neighbors names--I was just visiting with Mrs. Jones--we could use.

What did I learn that summer?

First--never be afraid to introduce yourself to anyone. Extend your hand and shake hands with a firm grip. Look people in the eye. Have a smile ready and be truly happy to meet new people.

Second--Just because one door slams in your face (and there were many that summer), doesn't mean another won't open for you. I remember have army green sample cases that looked like the things that they used to blow up bridges in the war movies. A lady slammed her door in my face. I don't know why, but I made like I was pulling wire out of my case. I got to the sidewalk in the front of her house--and made like I was pushing the plunger on an explosive device. I jumped up like an explosion happened, and ran laughing to the next house. She ran out of her back door and into her neighbor’s back door. When I made my sales presentation to the neighbor she listened--and she bought.

I learned not to quit. I tried to close every day with a sale. The perseverance I learned that summer stayed with me throughout my coaching career.

I learned to read motivational books like: The Greatest Salesman in the World (Og Mandino), and Profiles in Courage (John F. Kennedy).

I have continued to network over the years--although I have let several good friends slip through the cracks. As a matter of fact, my last four coaching jobs have come as a direct result of networking. In many instances it is not what you know, rather who you know that gets your foot in the door. Mackay's Moral (pg. 161) "Getting through the fence to the top dog is easy, if you know the gatekeeper."

If you aren't networking, I suggest you get Mackay's book and begin. You never know when you might need that well.

Contact Tom at: tomhughes@motivationNmore.com

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