This is a broadcast of it.Episode 259.
short content
Sometimes we make networking harder than it really is, and then we're not as successful. To become a good networker, it helps to learn frombutsuccesses and errors of people.
After an encounter with a Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish, Dr. Don't miss his tip to apply vinegar and meat tenderizer to the spots. This solution seemed simple and unlikely, but everyone else he asked offered the same solution. When he was ready to use it, he had heart problems. What did they do when EMS arrived? Tender meat and vinegar applied.
So how does this apply to networking? If you assume that you know more than people who have experience, you will make a lot of mistakes, and some of them will be painful. Don't dismiss ideas just because they seem too simple. Learn from people who have the experience.
For more content from Ivan, visitIvanMisner.com.
Full transcript of episode 259 of the BNI podcast:
Priscilla:
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, the Internet's leading networking download site. I'm Priscilla Rice and I come from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. Joining me on the phone today is the founder and president of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you and where are you?
Ivan:
Hello Priscila. That is going very well. I am still in Australia visiting BNI departments. I like to visit the BNI chapters and meet the members. That's where I was last week and this week.
Priscilla:
Fearful. What do you have to share with us?
Ivan:
I have another podcast. Usually my podcasts are very specific in the ways and maybe I interview someone on how to do something. But today I have a story. Does the story really apply to why we make all the mistakes? To become a good networker, learn from the mistakes and successes of others. Actually, there are tried and tested networking techniques that are so simple it seems like they just aren't effective. We often try to evaluate and improve them, complicate them; this is often called feature augmentation, where we add things to an idea that already works pretty well.
So there was an experience I had while on vacation here that reminds me of how we try to make some things harder than they really are and we're not as successful as we'd like to be in the process. I'll tell you the story and give you the moral of the story as I finish it.
Several years ago I was in Hawaii enjoying the ocean. Unbeknownst to me, the water was quite full of Portuguese warships, which are extremely toxic. I felt a knife across my chest. I wiped my chest with my right wrist, this is important, with my right wrist and right hand. I took my hand out of the water and looked at these tentacles dripping from my hand. I followed them with my eyes and about eight feet from my body was this huge Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish. I was a bit worried. I pulled the tentacles off my wrist and swam as fast as I could to shore.
I ran to the first hotel employee I could. There was a bell boy serving drinks to people at the pool. I said, “Hey, I think a Portuguese warrior hit me in the chest. What do I have to do;" He said: "So, do you feel any pressure in your chest?" I said: "No, no". He said: "Okay, this is what you have to do. Go to the market next to the lobby. Ask for some vinegar and meat tenderizer. You'll want to pour the vinegar all over your skirt, then shake the tender meat over the same spot and rub it all over. And you'll be fine."
I thought that was really weird advice. He was very calm. He had just been beaten by a Portuguese warrior. I was very calm and it seemed like a very easy fix, and a bit silly to be honest with you. I really thought this guy was doing his own version of let's prank the stupid tourist. We can see if he really does. Maybe we'll take pictures or something. I just thought he was crazy.
So I said thank you very much and left and saw a hotel employee not far away. Somehow I ran up to him and urgently told him that I had just been hit by a Portuguese warrior. I showed it to him and he said: “Yes, it looks like a Portuguese warship. Do you feel pressure in your chest? Ok, as the other person asked. I said there was no pressure. He said, “Okay, what you want to do is find the market. It is near the reception. You want to find some vinegar and tender meat. Spray your chest with the vinegar and rub with the meat tenderizer and you'll feel so much better. You'll be fine.'
I didn't calm down at all. I thought these guys were having a staff meeting on cheating the tourist. I didn't believe him and ran to the hotel and saw the hotel manager. I thought the hotel manager would give me the scoop. He's not going to tell me nonsense. I ran to him and told him that I had been hit by a Portuguese warrior. He said: “Yes, it looks like a Portuguese warship. Do you feel chest pain, chest pressure? I said no, I didn't feel pressure in my chest. He said: “Okay. Good. Just run down the hall. There is a small market. What you want to do is take some vinegar and tender meat and drizzle it on your breast and then sprinkle it on the tender meat and just rub it on.
I finally thought I couldn't be serious. Okay, I know this is a joke, but I'll do it. So I reluctantly went to the store and I knew there were guys who would make fun of me for it. I thought they were looking at the cameras in the hallway and they were all laughing. So I went into the little market off the lobby and started looking for all the baked goods. As I look around me, I start to feel short of breath. Suddenly and very quickly I started to experience this overwhelming weight on my chest. It was horrible. I started to feel like it was a heart attack.
I thought, oh my god, I'm having a heart attack. When I stumbled out of the store, I was literally a few feet down the aisle. I stumbled down the hall, went to the front desk and literally fell to my knees and lay on my back holding my chest. I said call 911. They called 911, the paramedics were coming. No kidding, there was a girl standing next to me. I'm here in the lobby, okay?
Imagine a lobby in Hawaii. There's a man in a bathing suit, a porpoise in the hall, holding my chest. I'm in agony This little girl points to me and says, “Look mom! Look at the man on the ground! He was like, “Stay away from this guy. That's what happens when you take drugs.” I was like, without drugs, I was a Portuguese warship.
Ambulances arrive at the scene. They finally come and give me the real medical care that I need. After they found out what had happened, the paramedic opened his first aid kit and I knew they were going to pull out a defibrillator. I made my peace with God at that point and braced myself for quite the scare. Instead, he pulled out, you guessed it, a vinegar spray bottle and some of Adolf's tender meat.
He then drizzled the vinegar and drizzled the tender meat over my breast and rubbed the mixture in very well. Within seconds, Priscilla, seconds, the excruciating pain began to subside. In a few minutes, except for a little bit of pain where the scratches were, and remember, I used my wrist to clean the tentacles, so what happened was the tentacles were right on my wrist and that's how he injected me with the venom.
But after the vinegar and the tender meat, the pain was almost completely gone. It turns out that what I thought was a great tourist prank barbecue is a well-known remedy for jellyfish attacks. Not all, but some. The tender meat contains an enzyme, I think pappin, that breaks down and neutralizes toxins in the proteins. And the vinegar is a kind of medium to channel it into the bloodstream. The combination has an impact very, very quickly.
Why am I telling this story? Here's how it goes for you as a BNI listener: On reflection, I'm amazed at how many people gave me a solution to my problem, but I still had to learn it the hard way. You know, I'm sitting there thinking who the bellboy is going to believe. What does he know, right? And the hotel receptionist, he's fine, maybe there's a boss, but I got a promotion. I am clever. These guys are just kidding, right? They are kidding. And the hotel manager, okay, I admit there was no excuse at the time. At that point I had to go inside.
I made one of the biggest mistakes people make in business. I did not listen to people who have the experience. I figured I knew better. The truth is, I didn't know any better. There is nothing better than the experience. It's better than training any day of the week. A combination of education and experience is best, or at least a willingness to learn from other people's experience.
There are so many basic network marketing and referral techniques that every good business person knows to be effective. They don't look for anything more complex or complicated because they know from their own experience and from others what works and what doesn't in business.
So when you listen to this podcast, think about your whole life. In the future, you may read things that seem very simple or ideas that you think you have heard before. Don't reject them, embrace them. Especially when you hear this from people you know are successful.
Opinions are like noses. Everyone has one. Everyone will give you an opinion, but take seriously the opinion of those who know, of those who have experience. While the concept of it may be simple, it often is: When talking about business networking, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it, but it's not. Good networkers learn from the failures and successes of others.
So get out that vinegar meat tenderizer and learn from the masters. Learn from the people in your department, directors, consulting directors, well, maybe even this podcast. Learn from other people so you don't have to make the mistakes that others have made. That's my message for today, Priscilla.
Priscilla:
Fearful. Great I love this story. I want to thank you for this podcast, Dr. Misner.
Ivan:
Thank you, Priscilla, to the members who listen to this podcast and to the directors: please share this podcast with your members. It's a lot of fun and has a great message. Share this post with the people you work with at BNI each week.
Priscilla:
well ok I'd like to remind listeners that this podcast is brought to you by networkingnow.com, the leading network download site on the Internet. Thank you very much for listening to me. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope she'll join us next week for another exciting episode of the Official BNI Podcast.