It's Who You Know...

Last Friday something pretty damn wonderful happened. I was driving to a local pizza joint when one of my friend Adam G. called me asking to borrow a camera. Here’s a little back story on my friend:

Adam is a megasocialite who just turned 22 and frequents the bar and party scene here in Lincoln, Nebraska. For the most part, he keeps his composure and is more interested in socializing than getting squashed. Adam’s awesome at relating to people and shaping a positive atmosphere. He lost his job a few months ago and has been struggling to find something new that fit.

Adam and I have spoke about him getting into the nightlife scene for a few years now. It just so happened, that one of my long-time buddies, Nick, had recently slid into a promoting gig from his DJing roots. I found this out when I ran into Nick downtown and immediately prompted him on Adam as an apprentice/employee. After rambling to Nick how awesome Adam was, I made the introduction. They only had a little time to talk so the next day I made sure to contact Nick on Adam’s behalf.

A few weeks went by and Adam and Nick started running into each other downtown. They conversed. On this last Friday night, Adam called me to borrow a camera because Nick was going to start using him as a photographer for his promotions.

People say that the best way to feel better about yourself is to do something good for someone else. They’re right. I felt absolutely amazing hearing this. Not just because I hooked up the intro, but because Adam and Nick were such a perfect fit for collaboration. Adam is now doing what he was meantto do and what he wanted to build a future towards.

That’s only half the story. I was in the car on my way to the pizza joint when Adam G. called. After hearing the good news I went in to meet my friends. Right away my long-time good friend, and cousin-in-law, Kyle came up to tell me that he quit his job.

Kyle was in a worse situation than Adam. Months ago, he had been told that there was no prospect for him to get a promotion for the next four years because the company was struggling. On top of that, he had loathed his job for years and was job-trapped with a mortgage.

My response was, “Holy shit.” Then Kyle smiled and said, “I quit because I landed that job with Palmer.” It took me a second to realize that he had gotten the job that I had previously introduced him to. About a month ago, I spoke with my friend Palmer about Kyle’s situation and since his company had an opening, and Kyle had the right experience, it seemed like the logical progression. Kyle got behind the idea and it paid off. I was amazed!

As I get older, I see more and more, that it’s not what you know but who you know. More importantly, it’s about the quality of the people you know. About their character. Adam and Kyle are two of the classiest guys I’ve met. That made it easy for me to go to bat for them. Nick and Palmer are just as classy, so they understood and related to the situations. Who do you surround yourself with?

If you liked this article you may like:

1) Use a Weakness to Develop a Strength

2) A Pessimist Presupposes Failure. An Optimist Presupposes Success

3) Time to Quit Your Job: Leveraging the Internet for Content Distribution (3 of 3)

-Brian

If you made it this far, you should follow me on Twitter. Follow @jprichardson

-JP