Some Shining Examples

Throughout this chapter, we’ve discussed the basic laws and principles of successful giving and receiving. We’ve seen that Superstar Networkers – who are also true givers and connectors – have developed a knack of hooking up with similar people who operate the same way. As this network of like-minded people grows, you begin to develop a “community” of such people all doing their best to help one another prosper. Sometimes these are people you literally see within your community; other times it’s people you might never even meet offline. It doesn’t matter; the same principles still apply.

My network is filled with people such as those described above.

We constantly keep each other in mind, often providing suggestions, contacts and yes, lots of referrals. This includes people such as my dear friend, the networking superstar, Terri Murphy (www.terrimurphy.com). Even though we don’t speak that often, whenever we do, Terri immediately wants to know if there are any people or potential clients I’d like her to introduce me to. Of course, I always want to do the same for her, not out of obligation, but because I just flat-out like her so much. And you know what? Perhaps out of some obligation as well…but if so, it’s an obligation I enjoy, since she’s been so helpful to me over the years.

In the previous editions of this book I referred to Terri as “The 14-Million-Dollar Woman,” because when she was an active Realtor®, that’s how much she sold every year, through good markets and bad. (And this was back when $14 million dollars was a number achieved by very, very few in that field. As Terri says, only partly joking, “That’s when $14 million was a lot of money!”) Terri achieved much of that on a part-time basis while she was developing her speaking and writing career. (She has since retired from active real estate sales and writes and speaks full-time.) If you knew her even for one minute, you immediately see why.

Once, while speaking near her city, I paid her a visit to see just how she did it. As I walked with her through town, it seemed as though I was with a visiting Hollywood celebrity. People loved her—they adored her. And why? Because she not only seems concerned with other people’s welfare, she is concerned with it.

What’s more, she acts upon it. Terri actively tries to help everyone with whom she comes into contact. She connects people with each other in a way that helps everyone benefit. As a result, people feel good about her. They know her, they like her and they trust her.

Terri has now parlayed her huge success as a local Realtor® into an equally huge (or huger) success as an international authority on real estate and communication skills. Her books are big sellers and people pay her a lot of money just to learn how she succeeded in order that they can duplicate her success. To this day, and in her new profession, she utilizes the same basic principles of giving and connecting that brought her such outstanding success in the first place.

I met my friend and occasional joint-venture partner Sean Woodruff (www.woodruffdirect.com) through the introduction of a great mutual friend, Stephanie West Allen ([link url=http://www.allen-nichols.com[/link]). Stephanie is a giver in the truest sense of the word and a classic connector.

Early in our friendship, I had helped Stephanie with a project she was working on. Sean had also provided some expertise. Stephanie was grateful and connected Sean and me, thinking we might team up on some projects. I was impressed with Sean right away, as it was obvious he had that giving spirit as well. Sean later said he sensed the same thing about me.

Before long, Sean and I worked together on several profitable joint-venture projects. By the way, the friendships between Stephanie and me, Sean and Stephanie, and Sean and me, all took place via the Internet, well before any of us had ever met in person. To this day, and as of this writing, although I’ve now met both Stephanie and Sean in person during my travels, the two of them have yet to meet one another face to face.

In fact, they’ve never even spoken on the telephone.

Yes, these principles work just as well on the Internet!