One Contact Can Lead To Many Connections

[rifat28dddd]

The difference today was the ensuing comment from my son. He asked, “How do you know that person?” This remark forced me to thoughtfully examine the origin of this relationship, and by extension, what the power of that connection meant to me.

Here’s what I discovered:
Origins
This contact was someone that I connected with while I was ramping up the first of my businesses about twenty years ago.

Tipping Point
This contact was a “tipping point” for me. Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “The Tipping Point”, talks about how certain connections we make are more influential than other connections. While several connections may be simultaneously made, these connections are all not created equal when it comes to their influence.

Gladwell takes us back to when Paul Revere was hungary telegram data riding across the countryside, informing the public of the marching British. Word spread like wildfire.

However, at the same time, there was another rider who headed in the opposite direction, pronouncing the same message but with nary the effect that Paul Revere had. Revere was a “tipping point”. The other rider was not. Our connections act the same way.

Just like we do when tracing our lineage through family trees, I did the same with this contact. He put me in touch with another contact with whom I did business. This new contact switched jobs a few years later and brought me in again.

Through this engagement, I met two other people – both of whom eventually moved on to other companies. And, you guessed it, brought me into each one of their companies.

This led to three more connections that either produced new projects at this company or completely new engagements at new firms. Over the course of several years, that original connection led to almost $1M in projects!

This exercise was eye-opening and reaffirmed for me why we need to remain consistent and persistent with our activities. Every single day, you should have the mentality that the next connection you make could be the one that leads you to the promised land of opportunities.