Becoming The Connector

This week I received a phone call from a man asking me if I knew any people from a certain industry. I informed him that I knew at least 50 such qualified people and I reached for my binder full of business cards on my desk to start looking through them. After a few minutes we easily identified the most likely candidates for his unique opportunity and I sent out a few emails setting up the meetings.

So how did I get to be so connected? Really it all happened very fast. I was a Pastor for 12 years and when I entered the realm of business only 2 short years ago I can assure you that I did not know anyone at all. A good friend of mine Darlene Hull suggested that I go with her to a networking event. That is where I met Jim Messner who at the time owned the CBN. He informed me how important networking events were and told me that the connections that I made would be strategic to my success. It was Jim’s influence that led me to more networking events and his connections that brought me many friends and clients for my social media business.

Networking opened doors and once the doors were opened I learned that one could keep them open by thinking more of others. When someone told me about an opportunity that they had, I made an effort to connect them to a person that was a good fit for their opportunity. When I learned of investments, I let investors know. When I learned that someone was unhappy with their home and looking for a new one I called a Realtor  I sent out emails and CCed both parties explaining to them why I thought they should get together and I said something good about each of them so they would feel comfortable to follow up.

I never thought about being a “connector” until I read Bob Burg’s book The Go-Giver. That is a great story about the “connector.” By the time I finished it I decided that when I grow up I would like to be a “connector” too! You should pick up a copy. It may inspire you to also be a “connector.”

Always Loyal2U,

Kerry George

Social Media Rehab

I was on Twitter tonight and saw someone tweeting about needing social media rehab.

It got me to thinking. Back in the 1930’s nobody really realized that smoking was bad for us and society went through a era when smoking was sexy. Everybody wanted to be seen as a smoker. Then as the decades passed and people began to die from cancer we figured it out. Smoking was bad. By the time we caught on people were dead and others were hooked.

So today I am contemplating. Could there be some evil consequences to Tweeting? Is the next generation going to be sterile from holding laptops on their laps? Will we burn our retinas out of our heads? Will Facebook gossip become a social media disease? Or perhaps we will form a mutation as our hands glue themselves to our phones from holding it and texting too much.

With this thought I went to my instant knowledge base that is now being referred to by professionals everywhere to see what the great god of google had to say about the subject of social media diseases. I found how one guy got a new kidney and a teenager was using YouTube to share her new hair after having lost it to an autoimmune disease. There were several great stories about how social media is being used to assist a variety of people and along the right side were some great fun things about cats and dogs too! My own ADHD kicked in and I forgot my quest for a few minutes while I had a good laugh, and laughter is good medicine, so probably not time lost.

Next I changed my query and typed “social media rehab.” As it often happens I had originally used the wrong search words. This time I discovered there are actually real social media addicts and centers to treat them. Who knew?

So will I need social media rehab later? Well if an electronic pulse takes out my new found source of entertainment and I lose it all in one night as aliens descend upon us I may grieve the loss of Facebook and miss all of my Forbes updates from LinkedIn, but I am not likely to need rehab. Besides I will be too busy ducking the culling beams coming from the spaceships. I should be just fine overall. I think for now I will keep watching crazy animal videos for entertainment and keep clicking on the share button when I find something that is particularly amusing…

Although I may need to question next why I am so fascinated with apocalyptic disasters. I have definitely seen way too many zombie and space movies…

But that is a question for another day.

Always Loyal2U,

Kerry George

Slavery In Canada

Are you in slavery and you just don’t know it?

When we think about slaves we think about people who live in third world countries and are forced into the sex trade. We think about African Americans before the civil war. We think about ancient Rome. We don’t think about slavery being a problem of today, and we certainly don’t think about it being right here in Canada or in the United States.

What is slavery though? Isn't slavery when someone else owns you? Isn't slavery when someone tells you where to live? Doesn't it mean that they control your time? Slaves in America 200 years ago were given a home. They were told how many children to have. They were told who they could marry. They were told what they could eat. They had to abide by the rules that were set by their master or they would endure punishment. There were consequences to disobedience.

The most interesting thing about slavery today is that it is done in such a way that it gives us the illusion of freedom. In Canada, we think we are free because we think we picked who we married. Did we though? Who did you marry? Where did you meet them? It is rare today for a person to marry above their station in life simply because if you were raised in a blue-collar or white-collar home you went to a certain university and you selected from the people that you know. There may have been others there from a slightly higher station in life and you probably felt the choice was yours, but did you ever consider that the richest people in the world were nowhere in your network of friends? Did you ever think that you married someone who made you comfortable? The Kennedy families of the world were not where you were, and even if you met one you probably did not feel confident about selecting them as a mate.

You think you were free because you got the job that you wanted, or the car that you wanted, but what were you conditioned to want? Did you think that being a Doctor or an Engineer would free you financially? Is your current job helping you to attain a living that puts you in the top 5% of the population? We think we are free if we are better off than when we started and that for many is enough, but is it not a limitation of the mind? Starting as the son of janitor and ending as a Lawyer seems to be a great improvement but you really went from the bottom of the middle class to the top of the middle class. You are just deceived into thinking it is something more. You feel free but you are still limited.

If you work for anyone else you have a job and a job is a modern form of slavery. You may have selected your home which gave you a sense of freedom but what were your choices? There was a limit to those choices. You were not told “where” to live and yet, you were. The biggest, most beautiful homes, on certain streets and in certain areas were not options. You were told where to live but it was done in such a way that you thought you were free. You were directed by your income. Your income is the noose around your neck that tells you where to live, where to vacation and what you will buy at the grocery store where you “freely” shop. If you stretch too far out of your income you think that you did so because of your freedom but the truth is now you have a debt and that debt is now your master. You must serve it daily with payments or you will lose it all.

How many children do you have? Why? The average is two. Why two? Is it not financial hardship that make more than two a bit difficult?

What do you do with your day? Why? Don’t you go to work because you need to pay the bills to keep living the mediocre life that has been dealt to you? If you don’t go to your job, will you continue to be paid? Even if you own a small business do you not exchange dollars for hours? So what happens if you stop putting in the hours? What happens if you vacation all year round? What happens if you stay home with your children and don’t trade the hours?

We have the illusion that we are free, and that my friends keeps us from getting free. A shark can be trained not to eat fish simply by putting him in a tank with glass walls when he is young. He can see the fish and tries to swim towards them but smashes his nose against the wall and it hurts. Soon he stops trying to eat the fish. Later the wall is removed and he still does not try because he “believes” he cannot get them. He will even starve to death slowly rather than risk further injury.

Slavery is a state of mind imposed on you by the will of others. It started young and you slowly accepted that it was unrealistic to be an astronaut, a politician, an actor, or an heiress. You found out that you were not switched at birth and that your rich parents were not coming to save you from a life of lack. You banged your head against the glass ceiling when you tried to make it in your own business and you lost money because you made mistakes from your lack of experience and your mindset. Slowly you gave up. Now you could be in the biggest pool of fish since creation and you would not dare to take a bite. You are completely controlled by what you think.

Think about it. The truth is what sets you free, because if we change the way we think we can reach heights we never imagined. Eat the fish. They are right there…

Slavery is alive and well in Canada, but it does not have to be alive in you and I.

Always Loyal2U,

Kerry George

PS This month we are putting on a very special lunch & learn on the 25^th. Attitude For Altitude. Change the way you think and you will change the way you live.