The year is 2018. Laura and I have been dating for a little over a year. We both have very close friends in Denver and decide to go on an end of the summer extended weekend trip to visit those friends and to see Phish who have been playing every Labor Day weekend in Colorado at The Dick’s Sporting Goods arena since 2011.
I mention the inception date because this has become an annual pilgrimage for many of my friends. As such, they have secured a sky box at the arena and arranged for party buses to take them from whatever Denver hotel they are staying at to the arena about an hour away. This drive becomes an event in and of itself. It is often DJ’ed by a music aficionado. There is lively conversation and general merriment. It is in 2018 that I meet a guy named Burch who lives on Maui and is a radio DJ there. He has a weekly program called the Church of Burch.
As a side note, I drag Laura to her first and only Phish show. She enjoys it for 20 minutes, looks at her watch, realizes it has only been 20 minutes and the color fades from her face as she calculates how many more hours she’ll have to endure this experience.
After the weekend I find all the good people I have met on Facebook. Like I said it is 2018, I don’t have two kids and a wife and Facebook is still an active part of my social life. Burch is one of those adds.
I will advocate a bit for using social media as a part of your effort to add people all over the world to your network. In this case, it worked out very well.
I have this great client named Hao Luo, pronounced How Lu-o. He has bought and sold two homes with me. I have helped him rent another. Excitingly, Hao and his wife Mia decided to move to Maui as Hao works for IBM fully remotely. I have performed well for Hao over the years.
They asked me if I knew anyone in Maui who could help them with their real estate needs. After thinking about whether or not I did, I reached out to Burch with whom I have stayed in minimal contact. He was all too happy to refer me to a real estate agent named Marcus.
Marcus did a great job. Hao and Mia are closing on their $1m+ Maui condo in May. Over $6k is coming to Be because I went to a Phish show in 2018.
That is an obvious oversimplification that is also rooted in reality because I did not really do anything special other than keep my mind open to the possibility that meaningful networking can happen anywhere at any time. The key is making a human connection and then being able to remember that the connection has been made when the time comes to act.
