Living in Naples, Florida, I find that there are many retired folks who have had fascinating careers. Quite a few of them retire here and end up getting bored just playing golf every day, so they start looking for new ventures.
Because of that, I’ve learned to say hello to people I see at coffee shops, stores or community events, since many times conversations develop that lead to common interests or opportunities (either for me or some of my clients).
But you don’t have to be retired to refine your networking skills and start looking around you to say hello to people you don’t know. You might be at the right place at the right time– and not even know it.
Here’s an example of what can happen:
One of my clients runs a smaller firm that has been growing the past few years so that he’s added staff to handle it.
He is a real peak performer and I often tell him he has the skills to run a much larger firm. He was excited about the thought of that. One day he happened to mention our conversation to the restaurant owner where he has lunch every day.
The owner asked him if he had ever met a retired gentleman sitting at a table near him. This man also had lunch there every day. Since my client didn’t know him, the restaurant owner introduced them. It turns out that the retired gentleman had worked in the same field as my client and was really bored in retirement. He wanted to invest money and start up something big.
The result is that the two men really hit it off and discovered they’d be great partners. They recently started a new business and are becoming very successful at something that may grow to be bigger than my clienthad ever imagined. Both men are living their dream.
ACTION STEPS FOR THIS WEEK1. Determine if you want to grow your business to be bigger.2. If you have a dream of something bigger, do you need an investor?3. How could you put out feelers so you can talk to them about your idea?
SPOILER ALERT:(As I am doing this blog at a coffee shop, two people behind me just shook hands on the first step of starting a business together.)
