NYC Elevate is a networking community organized to help our members make more money through structured collaboration and referrals.
Today’s Make More Money Moment is about belief and this will the most important foundational concept that helps us achieve in networking and business.
If you believe that I achieved some things with my networking tactics because I’m superman, you’re wrong.
If you believe that you can’t achieve these same things with my networking tactics, you’re right.
The reason I bring this up is that last week, one of you told me you were disappointed about your lack of progress here at Elevate, and I asked if they were employing any of the networking tactics that I teach.
They said no, and then they said this:
I’m not you. I can’t do what you do.
You don’t know how lucky you are to be so successful.
You really don’t know what it’s like to struggle like me.
Everything is so easy for you. You’re the Tom Brady of networking;
So first off, as an Eagles fan, I couldn’t get past that Tom Brady thing, you know, with how much I hate him.
But after I let that go, I realized that this person doesn’t really know a lot about Tom Brady.
And they don’t really know a lot about me.
The Brady you don’t know performed poorly at the NFL Combine.
The Brady you don’t know was denigrated for his less than stellar physique.
The Brady you don’t know did everything really slow in a profession measured in milliseconds.
But the Patriots ignored his scouting reports and his lackluster tryout, and drafted Brady 199th in the 6th round for his potential.
And only now do you have the Brady that you know;
The best quarterback Brady;
The 7 Super Bowls Brady;
The most wins ever Brady;
And he’s the Brady you know only because he put in the hard work, week after week, for 25 years.
And he’s the Brady you know only because you were able to watch his hard work every week on TV.
And he’s the Brady you know only because you saw him become the best with your own eyes.
And that brings the story back to me and Elevate.
You know me – today.
You know that I have a successful business – today.
You know me as a good networker – today.
But here’s what you don’t know about me:
I wasn’t born with any special gifts.
I didn’t have a lot of money or even a job when I came to NYC.
I didn’t go to a top business school.
198 guys and gals in my class graduated ahead of me.
I sucked at networking for years.
So what is the difference between Brady and me?
You haven’t been able to bear witness to all of my hard work.
You didn’t get to see any of my struggles or failures with your own eyes.
You didn’t get to watch my transformation on TV for the last 25 years.
And guess what?
While I may have achieved a few things, every day I still get up terrified that I’m my own boss and that no one is going to tell me the right things to do.
Every day, I’m terrified that the people on my team rely on me to generate enough business so they can support themselves, and their families.
Every day, I’m terrified that I have a million great ideas, but I’m paralyzed into inaction because none of them are perfect.
Every day, I’m terrified of making a mistake that might cost me my one shot at the prize.
Every day, I’m terrified of trying something new, because I can’t waste my precious time doing things that won’t pan out.
Every day, I’m terrified, and yet I go on.
And I say all of this because maybe it’s true that I worked hard and failed forward to become the Tom Brady you know, but then it’s also true that I’m just like all of you.
And if my logic is correct here, that means all of you can be your own Tom Brady, too.
And that means you can do everything that I can do and you can achieve everything I can achieve.
So please, come be terrified, right next to me, day after day, and then we’ll all go on believing that we can make more money … together.
