Networking and goal setting are important concepts for any aspiring entrepreneur. I thought I would share a couple of my favorite “coaches” or motivators. Some of you probably know either or both of them, but there is a good chance that many don’t. Anyway, it also would also be interesting to hear who are the inspirers you appreciate.
The first one is Keith Ferrazzi, a small-town boy who made it to youngest partner and Chief Marketing Officer in a Fortune 500 at Deloitte Consulting, and lots more. Keith started his authorship with Never Eat Alone, an introduction into world building success through relationship building. His newest book is the #1 NY Times bestseller Who’s Got Your Back, which deepens the topic of actual building of relationships. Some find the second book better-balanced and more about actual relationship building than Never Eat Alone.
Anyhow, Keith stresses that we need to recognize that no one can achieve great things alone, and everyone has the capacity to be a connector. Here are a few of his key points of achieving more and building better relationships:
- Audacity – be brave, it never hurts to ask – you might actually get what you want and where you want to go.
- Generosity – always be generous and try to contribute, think what you can do for others first.
- Never keep score – don’t think in terms of someone ‘owing you a favor’ or vice versa. Don’t refuse to help someone. because your last ‘favor’ has not been returned yet. There should be no scores. Just generosity.
- Authenticity – always be yourself, share, and be genuinely interested in others. Don’t be that schmoozing, cold type people typically understand with the term ‘networker’.
One of my favorite quotes from Keith:
“Poverty, I realized, wasn’t only a lack of financial resources; it was isolation from the kind of people that could help you make more of yourself.” (Keith Ferrazzi, Never Eat Alone)
Another motivator is Brian Tracy, quite a rockstar when it comes to motivational speaking.
“Unhappiness is to your life as pain is to your body. It’s sent as a messenger to tell you that what you’re doing is wrong for you. — The first myth about happiness is that it is not legitimate or correct for you to put your happiness ahead of everyone else’s. — Of course, that is nonsense.” (from Brian Tracy’s blog)
For me Brian is actually a relatively new acquaintance. However, I happened to get his book Maximum Achievement as a present sometime during my late teenager years, but it was practically forgotten in the shelf. Only last year, after several movings, I bumped into it again, and noticed it would have been actually a very good read already a way back…
Brian has been productive in many fields, but the bridging lead ideas across all have been reaching happiness and improving one’s life through goal setting. Visualing and deciding based on your dreams what you truly want, and then prepping and training your mind to support you in making it reality (some parts going obviously back to e.g. Napoleon Hill).
The basic premise Brian evangelizes is that if you can clearly envision something in your mind, you can achieve it – but there is always some kind of related “price” you have to be willing to pay to achieve the goal, often involving extensive learning and studying. But it is possible. As someone has said, a goal is a dream with a deadline.
—
Even if these introductions were brief, the topics are something all entrepreneurs should pay attention to, and I very much hope to keep on bumping into many who aspire to live by these principles.
Who (or what) are your favorite inspirers?
