Work Your Network!

“Joe Pelayo is one of the greatest networkers you will ever meet and in reading this great book you will ‘meet’ him.”

~ Gavin Newsom - Mayor of San Francisco

“Your ability to develop a network of supportive friends and associates can supercharge your life; Joe Pelayo shows you how to do it quickly and easily.”

~ Brian Tracy - Author of Million Dollar Habits

“Work Your Network! is a lesson in persistence, a tale of accomplishment and an achievement in writing.”

~ Pat Brown - The San Francisco Examiner

“Network, Network, Network! Joe wrote the book, all you have to do is follow it to success.”

~ Bob MacIntosh - CEO of PIER 39

“Joe Pelayo is an American original -- a new century Horatio Alger. His inspirational story is punctuated by wit, wisdom and an unwavering respect for truth; yet his most appealing quality is a deep and non-judgmental sense of humanity. Joe's pursuit speaks the perfect poetry of everything that's possible in life.”

~ Bill Radin - Author of The Recruiter's Almanac

“Joe Pelayo has risen from his amusing, but troubled youth to become one of the country’s premier recruiting professionals. His secret – networking. He proves it’s not what you know, but who you know – and his secret is the ability to leverage those relationships into situations where it is more valuable to know Joe than to not know him. You get what you give – and Joe gives a lot. He turns the art of networking into a science and his book shares those techniques which have made him a winner – in our profession and in life itself.”

~ Paul Hawkinson – Publisher, The Fordyce Letter

“In Work Your Network!, Joe Pelayo shares the best tools, strategies and secrets he's learned on the path to being one of the top recruiters (and networkers) on the planet. If you want to become a 'luckier' person you'll love this book.”

~ Rich Fettke - Author of Extreme Success

“This book is a great read for anyone who roots for or identifies with the prodigal son and believes virtue can rise from the ashes to form a platform of dignified success. The journey, in and of itself, is fascinating. The bridge to accomplishment is instructional. The lessons it espouses is simple yet profound and well worth the read.”

~ Doug Hawkins – Chairman, The CFO Network

“Joe Pelayo is the master of networking. Read his secrets, practice just half of them and you will be too. Simple straight talk from a master!”

~ Mike Faith – CEO, Headsets.com
“Work Your Network! is an essential tool on your way to the corner office. Joe Pelayo's unfailing positive punch is a reminder that success is a matter of persistence while always staying true to who you are. Warm, funny, personal, effective.”

~ Diana J. Wynne - Producer

“No matter where you are in your career today – just beginning or in the twilight – Joe Pelayo’s book, Work Your Network! is a very timely, valuable, one-of-a-kind asset that when used consistently virtually guarantees superior career growth. I wish I had the advantage of his hard-earned wisdom and advice twenty years ago.”

~ William E. O’Connor - Co-Founder, President and CEO of MicroBarrier Technologies, Inc

“As reflected in his book, Work Your Network!, Joe Pelayo's real life story serves as a backdrop for his easy to understand and apply approach to building a successful career through networking. In this book you will find a wealth of practical ideas, useful approaches, and winning strategies that will help you build a solid ‘foundation’ for your career as well as your life. You will laugh, you will cry, but most importantly, you will learn from one of the Masters, Joe Pelayo. More than a book, this is a guide to living a full life. I’ve read well over 1000 books in my life but never anything quite like this. A must read!”

~ Terry Petra - Past Chairman of the National Association of Personnel Services, CPC, CIPC

“As much as anyone else I know, Joe Pelayo practices what he preaches. Over many years, I have seen his creative approach, with its unorthodox style, produce enviable results. Joe has proven beyond reproach that if you invest yourself in people, people will respond.”

~ David Schulhof – CEO, BettyMills.com and
Serial Entrepreneur

“I just finished Work Your Network! Once I started reading I didn't want to put it down. In fact, yesterday I opted to take BART instead of driving so I could continue reading. Your book is full of great lessons and tips, and I know that I'll be a better networker for having read it and look forward to putting your ideas into action.”

~ Patrick “Public Relations” Galvin -
Galvin Communications

“I finished Work Your Network! basically in one sitting. I'll probably have to get a new one each year because we'll wear it out here at SearchPartner. My concern is that this book will take a long time in the publishing cycle because none of the editorial staff will ever finish working on it before they either get a new job or a promotion.”

~ Dave Staats - SearchPartner, LLC
Brentwood, Tennessee

“Work Your Network! is a very engaging, honest look at a leader's path to success and personal fulfillment!”

~ Amy Reece - Founder and CEO of Leaderview

“Stupendous! I only wish that I had read this at the beginning of my career. Joe Pelayo provides not only the ‘how to,’ but the inspiration and examples for all of us who aspire to achieve success. A must read!”

~ Frank Tilley - CFO/Partner, Tatum Partners, Dallas/Fort Worth Former Chairperson, Bay Area Financial Executives Networking Group

“Joe gets it. From his considerable success, he's created six lessons on networking and job search. He tells you how and he tells you why you MUST. This is his personal story -- informative and, above all, inspirational -- about his life, his family and his team. His stories about his father and him are especially moving. Read it. Learn it. Do it.”

~ Andy Schneit - Past President, Institute of
Management Accountants, San
Francisco Chapter

“Work Your Network! proves a formal education is not a prerequisite to success if you have a passion for your work!”

~ David A. Knutson - CPC - The Knutson Group, LLC

“Work Your Network! is destined to become one of the best books ever written on networking. Joe has not only captured the essence of networking, he has written a book full of motivation.”

~ Paul Austin – CEO, Qualitec

“I first met Joe Pelayo at a networking event, where else!?
I was completely disarmed by his kindness and willingness to get to know me. Since that time I have benefited repeatedly from being plugged into Joe's network and now he shares his secrets of success with the whole world in his typically funny, self effacing style…A wonderful book with a great message!”

~ Tim Hoyle - Awareness Coaching and Training

“A wonderful, fun, high energy book!”

~ Tina Thomas - SVP & Chief Compliance Officer of The Fremont Group

“I’ve never in all my years seen a book packed with such great advice and yet be so much fun to read.”

~ Lou Mangini – Portfolio Manager, Zola Capital

Contents

Foreword by Les Brown, speaker and author of the best selling books: Live Your Dreams and It's Not Over Until You Win!

Introduction

Chapter One: Dropout to Millionaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Chapter Two: Work Your Network! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Chapter Three: Self-confidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Chapter Four: Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Chapter Five: Interviewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Chapter Six: Giving up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90

Recommended reading list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

Recommended listening list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Foreword

By Les Brown
Hear ye, Hear ye! Contrary to popular belief, the American Dream is alive and well! If you are not living your dream, then Joe Pelayo will point you in the right direction. Work Your Network! provides practical steps that will take your life to new heights. His mastermind methods will "work if you are willing to work them." Joe is not only a messenger of hope; he is also a shining example of success obtained through persistence and perseverance. You will find powerful nuggets of wisdom that will change your life forever. Work Your Network! will empower you to impact those around you. Undoubtedly, this book will expand your thoughts and give you the mindset to live your life triumphantly.
In a time of fear and uncertainty, we need tools that will help us make it through the storms of life. In this book, Joe takes you by the hand and ushers you down the pathway of self-discovery. His innovative techniques give you the keys to unlock your hidden potential. He sets the stage for you to step into your greatness. Get ready to accomplish things that you have never imagined!

Introduction

Let me take this opportunity to thank the world for the welcome it has offered Work Your Network! Given the enthusiasm that has embraced my book I must ask myself why it took me so long to write it.

Occasionally, I’ll admit that I would with ease type something quite profound on a page and then allow myself the brief daydream of a Best Seller but, more often, the words would take the long way about. They would fight me tooth and nail, landing with a thud on the page as a horrible mess. I would have to start over. At these times it was easy to consider canceling the whole project which I might have done had I not begun the work with a dedication to my late father.

Upon the book’s completion I was surprised and excited at the response from people like Les Brown saying my book was “Great!” and that he’d be honored to write a foreword and Terry Petra, Past President of the National Association of Personnel Services, who said that of the thousands of books he had ever read in his life, Work Your Network! was one of his personal favorites and when I pressed him to find out where I ranked, hoping to be in the top 200-300 books he knocked me clean out of my chair, saying that for him it was the third best book of inspiration he had ever read in his life, bested only by the Bible and a book by Og Mandino!

To me, it was just the story of my life.

Chapter One: Dropout to Millionaire

I opened the garage door as quietly as I could. My head was really spinning. I closed the garage door and then snuck inside the house. Stepping as lightly as I could, I turned the corner to go down the hall to my room. There was Dad. “What are you going to do with your life?” he asked.

I was 17, drunk and on drugs. It was 4 a.m.

I dedicate this book to the spirit of my Dad, my hero, now singing in the choir of Heaven. Yet at the time he was staring at me. “What are you gonna do with your life?” He demanded an answer. I didn’t have one and I didn’t dare speak. I would slur my words for sure and he would know I was drunk. I’m sure he did know in retrospect. I shrugged my shoulders. This scene repeated itself nightly many, many times.

I love you, Dad. This is what I did.

This book is the story of how I dropped out of high school and raised myself to a millionaire. In my speeches I often play back the scene…Dad used to say to me, “Joe, when Abraham Lincoln was your age he used to walk 10 miles a day!” I’d reply, “Yeah, Dad, and I guess at your age he was…of course…our President!”

There would always be Dad asking me, “What are you gonna do with your life?”

Eventually Dad’s point hit home. I decided I had to get something going for myself. Up to that point my life had not been that successful. I would like to tell you that I dropped out of high school but it would be a stretch of the truth. I was thrown out.

One day I was called into see the Counselor at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill, California. He said to me, “Joe, you have just two classes left here. One of them is P.E. and we just can’t have this any more.” I had been kicked out of all my other classes. I was sent to a special school in Contra Costa County where they sent all the gifted children. Those gifted in drug dealing, class clowning and truancy, all strong suits of mine at the time. They thought I’d fit in better there.

At this school they had flextime. You could go to school 5 hours a week and you were allowed to stay in school. I was a procrastinator so I’d goof around all week long and then, on Friday, I’d go in for 5 straight hours. None of my friends at the time could believe I could handle 5 hours of straight school! That’s how high achieving they were. Their goals were to get drugs and get high, to do as little work as possible. Sadly, I admit I was the same. I was there to just get a “D” and get by.

So, with that as my start, I raised myself to a millionaire. If I can do it, you can do it. The San Francisco Business Times did an article on me, and in it I was quoted as saying, “I don’t think I’m the smartest guy in San Francisco but I might be the most persistent.”

Here's how the article read…
“Many business owners have harbored entrepreneurial aspirations from an early age, but Pelayo acted on those impulses sooner than most. A self-described "total rebel" as a teenager, Pelayo passed on college in favor of making money. He took a job at a large employment agency, but chafed at the company's strict, structured corporate culture.
"I don't function well with rules," he said.
After two years, he quit and joined a small employment firm in Oakland, where the atmosphere was more in sync with his personal style.
"In that environment, I flourished," he said. "At the age of 21, I earned over $100,000 in personal income."
In 1990, Pelayo founded Joseph Michaels (his middle name is Michael) with $15,000 in savings and personal credit. He started with one employee, and by the end of the year, his staff had grown to eight. Joseph Michaels focused on accounting (recruiting) because that had been Pelayo's specialty in his former jobs. To get the business rolling, he sent letters to 500 former clients and followed up with phone calls.
Today Joseph Michaels has revenues of about $2 million, a database of 40,000 clients and candidates, and a client roster that includes Foster Farms, Sony, Sega, Cisco Systems and Coca Cola's Oakland regional office. The company has turned a profit and increased revenues every year since its inception.
"Somehow we out-muscle the competition," Pelayo said.
Pelayo has used technology to give Joseph Michaels an edge. He invested (early) in a shared database so all the recruiters have access to the latest information on every client and candidate. He uses broadcast fax and e-mail as marketing tools. Once a month, he sends fax and e-mail updates to 10,000 contacts.
When screening candidates, Joseph Michaels combines an in-depth personal interview with a video interview, where the candidate is taped in a three-minute, three-question session. The videotape allows all the recruiters to get a sense of the candidate, Pelayo said. The company also has a video on how to interview for a job, which it provides free of charge to any unemployed accountant. According to Pelayo, the tape improves a candidate's chances of getting a second interview or job offer by 40 percent.
Pelayo considers himself a power networker. He is active in Pinnacle, an organization for the nation's top recruiters, the Institute of Management Accountants, where he is past president of the East Bay chapter, and the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization, where he is president of the San Francisco chapter. He said YEO has been an invaluable support network.
"It's a group of peers who can relate to you and an informal board of advisors."
Among the personal attributes that have contributed to the success of his business, Pelayo ranks determination high.
End of article.
Sometimes when I speak, if the people in the audience already know me well, I’ll just open with the short version, a poem:

I started out as an idea
In Mom or Dad’s mind
One night on a homebound drive
They came together on the idea that night
And I was alive

First thing I remember
I’m spending the day at Creative play
Learning to use an eraser
But looking more forward to the afternoon edition
Of my friend Speed Racer

Elementary and High School found
I was smart enough but a bit of a clown
In the end, in High School, I was rarely around

Cutting to my business career
I gave the papers reason to cheer
While Stanford or Berkeley I did not attend
Lots of energy I did expend

And when asked how I became such a Big Shot
Without a college degree
I explained to thee
In a way I hoped they found not too high falutin!’
A big shot is just a little shot
Who kept on shootin’

That’s what I did. I kept on shootin’. I got kicked in the teeth so many times I felt like I was the poster boy for cosmetic dentistry. People would just hang up on me when I started out in the headhunting business. I mean some days I got beat up so bad I must have looked like I came in 2nd place in the “Sock Full of Nickels Fight” at the family picnic. ? But, I kept on. “It’s hard but it’s worth it,” as Les Brown says. You’re gonna be on the planet anyway so you might as well succeed. Most people stay in the bleachers of life. The guy who says he doesn’t care about money will probably lie about other things as well. They say, “Money isn’t everything,” but as Rita Davenport says, “It’s right up there with oxygen.”

I’m not saying you should drop outta school to chase your fortune. That was one of my first mistakes: thinking I knew enough after the 10th grade. What I am saying is this: If I can become a millionaire without a degree, then you can do it with one. And if you dropped out, like I did, and you think you can’t succeed because you didn’t finish high school or college, then as Wolverine in the X-men says, “Hey, I’m talking to you, Bub.”

February 17th, 1986, I started out in the recruiting business with General Employment, a publicly traded, Chicago-based employment agency and one of the oldest and largest employment agencies in the world. Roger Howland told me, “If you come to work here you’ll need to wear a suit.” So I asked him, “If I get a suit, can I start on Monday?”

I guess Roger liked my answer, he said yes. I went with my Mom to Mervyn’s and bought a gray corduroy suit. You know, the kind with the brown patches on the elbows. Then we went to Goodwill and bought another suit that was slightly too big, but it was a suit.

I was 17, although as far as General Employment knew, I was 18. I knew that if I had told them I was 17, I would not get the job. I started work that next Monday. It was a glorious day. I walked in looking like a 17-year-old punk, with long hair and a cheap suit. But I was so naïve…I was thinking that I looked great. Howland gave me a look that I mistook for admiration and I said, “Not bad for a day’s notice, huh Roger?” I swear I said that. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Roger asked me if I wanted to recruit accountants or computer programmers. I guess I thought about it too long for his liking and he said, “Never mind, just sit over there, Joe. You’ll place accountants.”

Well, it was a small office and everybody sort of helped out everybody else and so even if you worked accounting you still looked at all the jobs that came through. Anyway, one day I’m sittin’ there and a job comes in for an MIS Manager. I told Roger I have the perfect guy for this job order. Roger says, “Great Joe, let me see the resume.” I gave him the resume. Roger says, “Joe, this guy is a General Manager.” Yeah, I said, he’d be great for the Miscellaneous Manager job. “Joe!” he said in disgust, “MIS Manager stands for Manager of Information Systems, not Miscellaneous Manager!” Like I said, if I can do it, you can do it.

I proceeded to find everyway possible to fail in the recruiting business. I tried to quit twice but was talked out of it by Mike Hopper the first time and Dennis Billingsley

the second. Both thought I could have some potential in the business, even when I didn’t have faith in myself.

When I tried to quit on Dennis we were having lunch on Pine Street. Me, a slice of Round Table Pizza and Dennis, a homemade sandwich. Roger had sent me to work for Dennis Billingsley in the San Francisco office of General Employment.

I said to Dennis, “Listen, I want to tell you something important. It’s nothing personal but I’m not making enough money to make ends meet and I’m going to resign. I really appreciate everything you have done for me, trying to help me be successful, protecting me from Sam.” (Sam Davis was Dennis’s boss and the Regional VP. Sam thought an 18 year old who was dumb enough to drop outta high school, had no chance of ever amounting to anything. It was a good thing he didn’t know how young I really was!) Sam asked Dennis every chance he got, often in front of the other managers, “When are you going to fire that loser Pelayo?”

When I told Dennis I was going to quit, he got VERY silent. It was not like Dennis to be silent. He is one of the most outgoing and friendly characters I have ever known. Walking down the street with him, all kinds of people would say, “Hi, Dennis!” and he would say “Hi” back. And if he didn’t know them he would still say “Hi” to them. It seemed like he knew everyone in town.

Dennis was always in a good, playful mood. Sometimes in the office he would boldly shout at someone, “WHAT’S GOING ON! Mr. or Mrs._______,” stating the person’s last name.

His loud voice would carry a hint of suspicious humor, which would cause the person to come and sit down next to Dennis for a brief chit-chat before Sam Davis would walk by with his patented, get-back-to-work look. People loved Dennis, still do. He works for me now as my Vice President of Recruiting.

Anyways, back to the lunch on Pine Street. Dennis got quiet and it was very uncomfortable. I asked him if he was OK. He just sat there. “Dennis, are you OK?” A minute passed, another…seemed like forever. I seriously wondered if he was okay. Was he going to throw up? Was he going to get sick? Then he got up, walked 10 feet away from me and threw his uneaten sandwich on the ground as forcefully as he could. He would not look my way. “Dennis, what’s wrong?” I kept asking. Finally he sat down, steaming angry. He composed himself and in a tone of controlled rage said, “I CANNOT BELIEVE, JOSEPH, WITH ALL THE TIME I’VE PUT INTO YOU, YOU’RE GOING TO QUIT!”

I was scared. I had never seen him like that. I said. “Okay, I’ll give it another 6 months.”

He said, “OK.”

I would work under Dennis’s tutelage for two more years before I would move on. This time when I resigned, Dennis let me go. I guess he knew I’d be OK, that my wings were strong enough. He also liked the fact that I was not giving up on being a headhunter. He had told me many times, “You have great potential in this business.” I was just switching to a smaller firm, one with fewer rules.

I went to work at Ryals and Associates, a firm of 25 recruiters in Oakland, California. Bobby Ryals and Iris Brody-Lopez were the owners, two wonderful women. But, what really sold me on the firm was one of the best salesman in the world and another great manager, a Texan named Paul Austin.

Paul built up the expectation of me so high that when I started work at Ryals, the people started saying things to me like, “So you’re the new superstar Paul Austin has been bragging about.” I felt like I had to live up to my “reputation.”

Paul was a patient teacher and he taught me, and others, even when we didn’t want to hear it. It’s a very rare trait, I think. Anyone can coach someone to greatness if the coachee wants to be coached, but what I watched Paul do, was coach people when they didn’t want his coaching. If you wouldn’t listen to him he would go at you from another angle and then another. He stayed after people for their benefit not his. Eventually the person would get it, get a huge, “Ahh-Ha!” and thank him.

In the executive recruiting business it takes a long time to reach a payoff. You put in the pipeline and months or years later you get a result. I had some good success in late 1988, the year I started at Ryals. Funny, how a taste of success motivates. I think if you could just spoon-feed a taste of success to the masses, well who knows. Up to that time I had put stuff in the pipeline and then, even though I thought I was working, I was really looking at the other end of the pipeline to see what might come out. In 1988 I accidentally worked hard enough, long enough, to see the results. A light went off and I realized the hard work did pay off.
This new firm offered a lot of freedom. For whatever reason instead of running full bore down the streets of San Francisco at 8:29 a.m., desperate to make the 8:30 meeting, sweating up my suit on a last-minute dash from the bus stop. I got to work at 7:30. Most days I made more than 100 calls. I had set a goal to make $100K in 1989. Come December I went in to see the accountant.

“Jill, I need you to print out a copy of the Produce Exchange invoice,” I said.

“Not now Joe, I’m doing payroll.”

“Jill, I need your help. Remember when I told you in January I was going to make $100K this year, remember that was my goal? This client says I can pick up a check today. I have done the math. If you print this invoice I will go get this check and my commission will put me over $100K.”

“Really, Joe…wow that’s great! I’ll do it, Congratulations!” she said.

So I drove my 1975 orange Honda Accord out to the Produce Exchange in San Ramon, California, and picked up the check. In 1989, at age 21 had I made $100K in personal income with nothing but a G.E.D and a Degree from the School of Hard Knocks, Pretty good, huh?

Then I quit my job. Mom and Dad weren’t thrilled with that. I finally had a good career going for myself and then, I quit saying I wanted to start my own company. At a parent-teacher conference years earlier Mom had been asked, “Mrs. Pelayo, do you know your son has a behavior problem?” She said she wasn’t aware of it. She had never seen me behaving ever!

I don’t recommend anyone start a new business unless they are willing to give 2-3 years of their life to it. I remember distinctly this one day when I was first starting my company, Joseph Michaels, Inc., in 1990. Gerald Craig, my new employee and I just gave it our all. (How ya been, G!) 7 in the morning ‘till 7 at night, then we called it a day. Well, after taking the elevator down and saying goodbye to Gerald, I went down to Costco and Office Depot and bought some business machines, furniture, pictures, a coffee maker and other stuff we needed in the office. Then it was back to work. I hung the pictures that night, set up the business machines and got ready for the next day. I put a few more hours in and before I knew it, it was 3 o'clock in the morning.

You get these rushes of energy all the time when you're first starting up a business. And so it was for three years. I worked, I ate and I slept. That's what most business owners do to become successful.

One time in 1991, my mom and my sister came to the office with a birthday cake for me because I had told them I didn’t have time to go out for my birthday. I guess I wasn’t the only one in the family who didn’t take “no” for an answer! So they show up with a cake at the front desk and the receptionist calls me and tells me they are here. I told her to ask them to just leave it, can you believe it! Just leave the cake at the front desk! Well, I can’t remember if the receptionist or someone else talked some sense into me and I went and greeted them. My mom and sister and the whole company went into the conference room. I ate my cake as fast as I could. They sang Happy Birthday and then I said, “Thanks for coming but I gotta get back to work.”

I didn’t mean to be rude but when you are starting a business you have to devote yourself to it like a monk. I started mailing newsletters to my clients. Called it “The Network,” we mailed 25,000 copies of the last paper issue of the newsletter. Now we have a larger mailing list but on email. Anyway, each time we mailed nothing happened. We wondered why we had spent the money, then the next day a phone call, the next day we got two phone calls…etc, etc, etc. It was a good strategy. For whatever reason, none of my competitors did much direct mail at the time.

I had to get some P.R. for Joseph Michaels so I had Gerald nominate us for some awards and in some cases I nominated us myself. I know that’s not very humble but it’s better to be rich than humble. The Bible is often misquoted; people say, “Money is evil.” But that’s not what the Bible says. It says, “The LOVE of money is evil.” It’s OK to like it a lot! ;)

Abraham Lincoln said, “Good things come to those who wait but only the things left by those who hustle.”

And I began speaking. I spoke to the Institute of Management Accountants and I hired a photographer to take a picture of me speaking for “The Network.” I worked all the time. I smiled and dialed, and I worked my network.

The first issue of “The Network” featured the above cover story. Updates on the economy and the job market were common themes.

Chapter 2: Work Your Network!

Steve tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hey Joe, if I run for President will you be on my board?” Little did I know Steve was already slated to be the next President. Pretty slick, huh? Hey Steve, when are you writing your book? Put me down for a copy, would ya?

Nonetheless, I was grateful to Steve for giving me the chance. I had invited myself to a meeting of the Institute of Management Accountants a year earlier. I felt scared and outta place at first with all these degreed management accountants, all 20-30 years older than I was. Leslie Goode, the chapter President, took a liking to me and invited me to come to the board meeting. Next thing you know I’m on the board. I like what Fred Smith says in his great book

You and Your Network:

“I have had a simple growth formula for myself: Try to be the smallest person in the group. Its tough on the ego but once you have learned to handle that problem, you are very appreciative of the opportunity to grow into your association with others—not just the money, but all the other traits of life which we have available to us. We associate up to learn and associate down to teach. It is difficult to lift another unless you are above him. Being above him increases our responsibility to lift. This keeps us operating in two groups—those from whom we are learning and those whom we are teaching. The wonderful thing about our human flexibility is that we can keep growing our whole life through.”