Never underestimate the value of your relationships and connections, they can be very valuable. Over the years I’ve seen countless examples where such connections have paid off in the building of fabulous wealth. Here’s an example…

As a congressman from Buffalo for 18 years, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary for four years, Jack Kemp showed little interest in amassing great wealth. (He drove the same car for years, and never moved from his $155,000 suburban Maryland home.)

Upon leaving office in the early nineties, he began focusing more on his own bottom line, using barter to build his wealth by capitalizing on his fame. Corporations placed a high value on this rainmaker’s Washington connections, and his established relationships in the public sector as well. In short, Kemp could “open doors” for companies.

Which was the primary reason Kemp was on a dozen corporate boards. In one case, in return for joining the board of a Miami insurance company, he received a signing bonus—stock options to buy 20,000 shares of increasingly valuable stock. (Reportedly the value of Kemp’s options had grown by $300,000 within two years of acquisition.)

As you build on your rainmaking capabilities you too will reap the rewards that come with the position!

Your trade connections can be very valuable if you focus on building them.
FOCUS

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 5:35 am and is filed under From the Desk of Bob Meyer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.