Reddit mentions of Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time

I worked my way up by getting to know everyone, going to lunch with people outside of my department (particularly department heads and others above me), and offering to help wherever I could. I'm in IT, so I had the ability to help people often. I became the go-to guy for all web stuff, which irritated my own department head, but he was generally seen as a pain in the ass anyway.

So when he was gently removed from his position, I was the logical replacement.

I got started on this strategy by attending a talk by Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone, and applying his large-scale networking ideas to my organization. (Interestingly, my gf went to the same talk, applied his networking ideas to her own life, and landed her perfect job as a result.)

Summed up, the idea is this: Do favors for everyone you're in a position to help, and you'll gradually develop a portfolio of people who can potentially help you. Boiled down like that it sounds very manipulative. But so does How to Win Friends & Influence People, and you'll meet few successful people who haven't read that book.

No, I'm not paid by Ferrazzi, and have never spoken to the guy.

https://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Expanded-Updated/dp/0385346654

Kieth takes it further and explains a much nicer approach to the fundamentals you're looking for; really great read.

A lot of people have been recommending the book Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi.

I'll recommend that book. That book is about how to do social networking right.

It's not going to Business Networking Events (TM) and eating bad hotel food while engaging in a phoniness contest.

It's about just building relationships with people, and cultivating friends who'll help you out when you're in a spot. This, BTW involves being a Good Guy Greg who'll help others in a spot, and making yourself available for such things.

Some of Ferrazzi's tips:

• Cultivate generosity. Not just being able to give in an act of generosity, but being able to graciously accept generosity. The second part is something I find really hard.
  
• Develop your network ALL THE TIME. Not just when you're job hunting. When you begin the job hunt, you want a network already in place that will help you out.
  
• Don't be phony. Really, networking is just being sociable. Look for the kinds of people you like hanging out with, and hang with them. If you fake it, it won't work.
  
• Jerks get flushed out of social networks, so follow the Law of Wheaton.
  
• Give, don't just ask. Like I said, Ferrazzi says the key to success is generosity. Doing volunteer work, say for charities, is a damned good way to jumpstart a social network. Also, if someone is doing something generous for you, accept graciously. Don't keep score on favors. Just pay it forward.
  
• Follow-up. Don't be too obnoxious about it, but when you make contacts, keep in touch with them. I have a hard time with that part.
  
• Share your passions. Don't just go to the Business Networking Phony Luncheon. Go to something you love, and are passionate about. Like sci-fi? Go to sci-fi conventions. Like sports? Go watch or play your sportsball game of choice, and find friends who do likewise.

https://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Expanded-Updated/dp/0385346654

I'm a natural introvert, but every great opportunity I've encountered has been a result of expanding my social network, and these 2 books are what made that happen:

How to Win Friends and Influence People - Every successful businessperson on earth has read this book. It's incredibly useful for someone like me, who doesn't really like talking to people. This book made me good at it, even though I still don't like it.

Never Eat Alone - This one's a little different. I attended a talk by this author, and it completely changed my life. The book is geared more towards people who want to be CEOs (which is not me), but I applied the basic principles to just working in my organization and my local community, and it's paid off many thousands of times over. Sadly, the talk he gave based on the book was slightly more useful than the book itself (although I still highly recommend it - particularly the first half). So you might want to track down Keith Ferrazzi on YouTube or something.

If I'd read these in college I'd have retired a long time ago.

Before I do anything I read two books:

Never Eat Alone! and 20 Minute Networking. Because relationships and networking are pretty much the arbiters of success in business.

1. I subscribe to and read the Harvard Business Review, the Economist, the Financial Times and either the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. Because to be successful in business one must understand the business climate and how current events impact that climate. This advice is the same if you want to stay in the corporate world and succeed there. You have to be knowledgeable about the world.
   
   
2. I subscribe to a local business journal from http://www.bizjournals.com/ because knowing the general business climate is great, but knowing what is happening locally is also important.
   
   
3. I make sure I read a couple of basic books on accounting, finance, and general business in that time.
   
   
4. I become an active member in local professional societies relevant to what I am interested in doing. I use these connections to begin to network heavily.
   
   
5. I utilize Linkedin like a pro and network my ass off. I make sure that I'm having at least one networking meeting a day -- it can be coffee, lunch, whatever. But I network. I never waste an opportunity to develop and maintain business relationships -- the kind where people know my name and think of me when it comes to my area(s) of expertise.
   
   
6. Which should be #1 -- I make sure that as long as I'm not in a non-compete, I start working on my idea TODAY. I also make sure that I am not in anyway covered by a non-compete, or that my company has no claims on my work outside of work hours because the worst thing in the world would be to become successful and have your current company sue you and win.

Here are all the books with amazon links, Alphabetical order :)

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• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1591396190
  
• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh et al. Link: http://amzn.com/160941280X
  
• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown Link: http://amzn.com/0804137382
  
• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days by Jessica Livingston Link: http://amzn.com/1590597141
  
• How Google Works by Eric Schmidt et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1455582344
  
• Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk Link: http://amzn.com/006227306X
  
• Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way by Richard Branson Link: http://amzn.com/0307720748
  
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1400064287
  
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck Link: http://amzn.com/0345472322
  
• Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0385346654
  
• Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1476714207
  
• Rework by Jason Fried et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0307463745
  
• Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin Link: http://amzn.com/1591842948
  
• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss Link: http://amzn.com/0307465357
  
• The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth by James Altucher Link: http://amzn.com/150100994X
  
• The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: *God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison by Mike Wilson Link: http://amzn.com/0060008768
  
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz Link: http://amzn.com/0062273205
  
• The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen Link: http://amzn.com/0062060244
  
• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries Link: http://amzn.com/0307887898
  
• The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime by MJ DeMarco Link: http://amzn.com/B004BDOUAI
  
• The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday Link: http://amzn.com/1591846358
  
• The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1885167776
  
• The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0984999302
  
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell Link: http://amzn.com/0316346624
  
• Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg et al. Link: http://amzn.com/1591848369
  
• Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out by Marc Ecko Link: http://amzn.com/1451685319
  
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel et al. Link: http://amzn.com/0804139296

Never Eat Alone is a great book about this.

Talk to instructors. Get to know people in your major and stay in touch with them after graduation. Do an internship. If there's a national organization in your field, join it and attend conferences (there's often some sort of student stipend, or at least cheaper registration).

Every great opportunity I've gotten was a result of knowing someone. The larger your (meaningful) social network, the more doors are open to you.

This book* was invaluable to me in learning to network, even though much of the information was geared towards someone who wanted to someday be a CEO. I applied some of the author's suggestions to my much more meager goals, and got my current job (of nearly 20 years) as well as several lucrative business investments as a result.

* I should add that the book is less than 20 years old, but that I got the position in a company I already worked for by using the book's advice.

A book I think you will find valuable is: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferazzi.

I really enjoyed the book Never Eat Alone which is a great guide to making meaningful and lasting connections.

Another one that really clicked with me is The Charisma Myth which argues that charisma isn't something you're either born with or not, it's something that can be practiced and focused in a way that is incredibly useful. Highly recommend this one.

And finally, I recommend The Like Switch which has some really useful guidance for communicating in a way that makes everyone involved in the conversation feel better, which makes people like you, which makes them more receptive to you.

I also have a 1 hour commute and don't have the attention span to follow along with fiction when I'm driving so I listen to a lot of non-fiction like this.

Every great opportunity I've ever had has been a result of knowing someone. Nearly every great employee I've ever hired has been a result of getting a recommendation from a mutual friend.

What I wish I'd know when I was in school:

Your #1 job while you're in school is to grow a large and varied social network in your field (and related fields). Not a Facebook-type social network, but one based on real-life interactions and relationships. Volunteer, meet people, help people, become valuable to people.

I highly recommend the book Never Eat Alone. It's geared more towards executives, but with advice that applies to anyone.

Also How to Win Friends & Influence People. Every successful person on earth has read it. It's dated, but the concepts are fully relavant.

If 10% of your leads are qualified, that doesn't sound too bad. But, you could also generate or purchase your own leads. Probably the most effective way to generate leads is through networking. Never Eat Alone is a good general book on networking though there are likely better resources for more advice specific to insurance sales.

If you think your prices are too high, find other ways to differentiate--such as the quality of service and attention you provide to your clients.

I went back to college at 26. If that's what you want to do.

Seems like the problem is you don't have a goal. Go read this: https://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Expanded-Updated/dp/0385346654

>Q: What are common mistakes?
>>A: There are a lot. Too many to cover in this small post.

LMAO.

Grade-A Bullshit.

One letter in Never eat alone is better than this entire post.