Don’t let perfection be the enemy of great, but why settle for great when excellence is an option.

People in my life ask me why I spend so much time going to music concerts. It’s because there are so many valuable lessons that we can take from top performers who are able to practice excellence in front of huge crowds day in day out.

Be strategic. One of the greatest concerts of all time was Queen at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1986. Unllike a lot of the other artists performing that day, Queen prepared to deliver the show of their lives. They segued their hits together in a way that transcended music.
Teamwork. This is pretty obvious but bears repeating, teams working in harmony both front stage and backstage make a concert a great experience for the concert goer.
Executing despite immense pressure. The Beatles, the greatest band of all time, had immense pressure as twenty-somethings, yet they still delivered all the way until “Abbey Road”, this final album. George Harrison, who contributed two amazing songs to the album, was 27 years old when The Beatles broke up. He and the other Beatles had achieved all that pressured success when they were in their twenties.

I love it when great bands and acts don’t settle for good, but they strive for excellence. Another great example is Bruce Springsteen who at 70 still performs to close to 4 hours to deliver the ultimate concert experience for his adoring fans.

What are you selling for in your business?

When did you learn to network effectively?

Elementary school? High school? College? Chances are you probably didn’t receive much networking education.

Most schools will tell you that networking is the most effective activity you can do for your business and career. And then they’ll tell you to go out and network. No wonder most people become disillusioned with networking quickly. It’s lie being to told here is a rope, here are some climbing shoes, now go climb that mountain.

I network. I network a lot. I meet people through my I go to very structured networking meetings that have the sole purpose of generating high quality business referrals. I attend conferences. I’m by no means an expert, but my networking is effective, because I have a plan, I have a strategy, and most importantly, I execute.

Research who you’d like to meet at the networking event that you are attending, and ask to be introduced to them. Prior preparation prevents poor performance.
Find out how you can help others. Listen to their concerns and needs when you are out networking. Don’t dominate the conversation.
Follow up. Collecting a bunch of business cards, wrapping them up in an elastic band and throwing them in the drawer the next morning is not networking. This is called wasting everybody’s time. Fortune is in the follow up. Follow up with those who yo had a genuine connection with.

Like most things in life, the more you network effectively, the better you will get at it, and the more you will generate the results you desire. For a more in-depth plan on how to network, check out my book that I wrote with an introduction from the “Father f Modern Networking Dr Ivan Misner. It’s called “Word Of Mouth” and is crammed with ideas to make your networking more effective.