Something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently is being a successful entrepreneur/business person and even for life, in general, is all about relationships.
This thought struck me again this morning when I was in the middle of a “catch up” meeting with someone I did contract work for probably 10 years ago. He was working at a large agency at the time and contracted me to do some SEO work for their Fortune 500 clients.
The way you handle yourself with every business interaction could have positive or negative effects.
Since that initial project, we’ve both been through a lot of changes, and we may have spoken less than a handful of times since then. But there we were discussing ways that we might be able to collaborate.
This is not the only time I’ve experienced this in the last few months.
A few months ago a contact of mine reached out to recommend I work with a company in South Africa where he now sits on the board.
This one was particularly cool because way back in 2004, so 15 years ago, I worked for a German company in the US. At the time there were only three people there that spoke German: The CEO, the President and, you guessed it, me.
This was a starting point for a relationship with the CEO. I worked there for only a short time, but over the years we’ve stayed in casual contact. And it was the former CEO that reached out to me with the recommendation. The company is now a client.
Neither of these “relationships” was the type where you invite them over for dinner or spend a lot of time outside of work. It was simple mutual respect and understanding of the value of each other’s business ethic.
It sticks out to me because it really drives home that you never know where a connection will come from. The way you handle yourself with every business interaction could have positive or negative effects. This carries over into the rest of your life too.
