That quote is from the great author and self-made millionaire, Jim Rohn. When I first read it four years ago, I remember thinking about the people that I spend the most time with, particularly in my business life. I also started making mental notes about who I felt was a positive influence and who tended to be a negative influence. Have you ever had a friend rain all over your idea or tell you that you couldn’t do something? Or, have you ever been at a networking event and felt that, for once, you were the smartest one there? In both cases, I want to encourage you to take a fresh look at who you are spending the most time with and, specifically, consider whether or not you feel challenged, supported, encouraged, and refreshed as a result.

I am not suggesting that you immediately go out and get some new friends, nor am I telling you that there is nothing to be gained by always being the sharpest knife in the drawer. Giving of yourself and helping others do well is both worthwhile and rewarding. What made a huge difference in my life is when I made a conscious effort to seek out and spend more time with other people whom I felt were both of the same mindset and, I hoped, smarter than I was! One of the most powerful visuals for me is a picture I once saw with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, President Warren G. Harding, and Harvey C. Firestone. Can you imagine what it must have been like to be a fly on the wall when these four men got together? Can you imagine how one must have pushed or encouraged the other? Or how they all must have shared a particular strategy that was working for them? It must have been awesome to have such a support group.

A few years ago I heard the following expression: “If you want to run with the big dogs, you have to get off the porch!” So as you go through the rest of the week, think of the opportunities you have to build your success team and how you will benefit from being around a group of other like minded people to challenge each other. I sincerely hope that you are ready to make 2007 the year that you, too, get off the porch and start running with the big dogs!

I finished it a few days before going to a Dan Kennedy seminar in Atlanta on marketing and Ferrazzi recommends becoming a Conference Commando when attending seminars and not just going to learn, but to make great connections with others that are there. I didn’t have time to implement many of the strategies, but did make a hit list of who I wanted to get to know that I thought would be there. With my focus on networking I walked into the room the first day where there were about 550 people and I ended up sitting next to a Billionaire from Australia named Anne McKevitt!! Nobody knew who she was and I ended up taking her to lunch (and I picked up the tab, too!) and picking her brain for a full hour, one on one. She had made it in the UK as their Martha Stewart equivalent and sold her product lines company in ‘05 for $970M. We chatted throughout the conference for the following couple days and I gleaned a wealth of knowledge from her. Another person I connected with was Mark Victor Hansen’s publicist who is a brilliant woman who can get to anyone in the media. We had lunch and dinner together and she is a huge fan of our new venture we’re launching (website coming soon) and wants to help publicize it when the time is right.

Needless to say, his advice paid off in spades and that was just one of a thousand ideas and practices that he has perfected in his career. The thing I appreciated most about his view on networking is that it’s all about relationships and building friendships through the process. I agree that the personal life/business life separation is a joke and we all do business with people we like and trust.

To top off the great seminar, I emailed Keith while waiting to catch my plane home (most CEO’s and small business owners email is simply their name@theircompanydomain.com) to let him know of my success and thoughts on the book. I used one of his strategies and said I’d like to interview him for a newsletter we’re doing for a mastermind group I’m in that is focused on marketing for small businesses. He recommends interviewing people you want to meet that you think are ‘out of your league’ because everyone loves to be interviewed. He emailed back in less than 5 minutes that Saturday afternoon and set me up with his editor to interview for the piece. It wasn’t him, but I got a ton of info from the editor and am building ties with their organization through the process. It worked like a charm.

The book is great for anyone (wanting a better job, a big sale, to get into that group you want to be part of, to find a mentor, etc) and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

LinkedIn vs. Plaxo: Is LinkedIn winning? by ZDNet’s David Berlind — Are you using LinkedIn, Plaxo, Orkut, or one of the umpteen contact management or Six-Degrees of Kevin Bacon-like business card exchanges? If there’s someone you need an introduction to through someone else you know, chances are pretty good that you know the right people to make that introduction happen. Provided everyone keys their information into [...]