Persistence Vs. Begging
There have been numerous accounts and testimonials that I’ve heard and read about successful entrepreneurs that were relentless in their pursuits for greatness and also in their efforts to create a successful venture.
Many of these accounts make reference to these entrepreneurs continually trying to break into a certain industry through a specific contact or by another successful connection.
I’m making strides to go into real estate investing and I’m trying to enter into my first property deal. I’ve worked deals as a consultant and also as a finder/ locator where I would become a middleman for real estate purchases on behalf of other investors, however I’ve never performed my own investment personally.
I was able to acquire a great networking connection through my father, who had a friend who was a successful real estate investor and also mortgage broker. I received his contact info and gave him a call to introduce myself and tell him a little bit about my background, tell him about some of my current projects and my future goals.
After we talked I tried to arrange a lunch meeting or some type of way to get together and rub shoulders, to which he refused, because of his busy schedule, but we exchanged info and decided to get together again at a later date.
However each time I’ve reached out to this individual, tried to arrange a meeting or tried to get further insight about real estate investing over the phone, he seems to blow me off and seems as though he doesn’t want anything to do with me.
Finally I took what I felt was definitely a hint and decided that I didn’t need his connection and I could easily accumulate another contact elsewhere. I spoke to my father about the incident and he insisted that I needed to continue to make strides to get through to this individual, because that shows persistence and drive.
I feel that there is a thin line between persistence and nagging/ begging, to which I want absolutely nothing to do with the latter.
I’m not cocky by any means, I try my best to carry a humble mindset and personality, but I think every person needs to have some level of self-respect and I refuse to continually reach out to an individual who doesn’t want to reach back; regardless of how successful they are and how lucrative and beneficial their connection could be.
Who knows maybe he is too busy, I mean there is only a certain amount of time in the day and many people are overwhelmed with projects. Maybe he feels that I would be wasting his time and don’t really have anything I can bring to the table that would be beneficial to him.
Maybe he feels that I want to sneak in, accumulate some of his knowledge and tips, then run off and ultimately become one of his competitors. Regardless of what is driving his continual blowing off method, I’ve come to a point where I’m fairly frustrated with the situation and feel that it may be time to put an end to the whole process.
So I’m turning to my fellow young entrepreneurs here at the network for some true advice. What do you guys think I should do concerning this situation, should I continue to push forward relentlessly until this individual hears me out and gives me a shot, or should I take his hints, take my pride and move on? Thanks for any and all comments.
7 Comments
P
February 13th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Don’t beg and keep pushing. If you did that, you might as well have decided to become a used car salesman (and a bad one). There are loads of opportunities in any field, and begging won’t get you any of them.
Tony D. Clark
February 13th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
That’s a tough call, and I know how difficult it can be to know which way to go. In my opinion, it really depends on how much you have to gain from the contact. I believe in persistence, but there comes a point when you have to wonder if your time is worth it.
One option that I’ve used pretty successfully with clients is to have a follow-up prompt pop up every week or so, and send out another email, make a phone call, etc. Then after 4 or 5 weeks of no response, I follow up with in a semi-joking way “If I’m being a pest and you have no intention of getting back to me, please let me know and I’ll remove ‘follow-up with X’ off my action list.” It has worked pretty consistently for me for a number of years.
William
February 13th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Toney D.,
I think you make a good point, sometimes coming at an individual from a different perspective can get their attention instead of the same old lines.
P,
Yea I agree with you sometimes you can just go too far and to tell you the truth I’ve started to feel that way to a certain extent, like I’m just being a pest.
However I’ve heard stories of individuals who kept bugging a successful business contact until that person gave them a shot and then when they finally got their shot, that person who was one day begging for a shot ended up becoming a mult-millionaire that was extremely successful.
For instance the Four Founders of FUBU the clothing line staked out in front of rapper L.L. Cool J’s house everyday for months and also followed him to all his shows showing him their clothing line and he had to run them off, call the police and everything several times.
Finally one day he said he would take a look at it if they promised to leave him alone. He viewed the line, loved it and the clothing line went to the top of it’s class for several years and all these guys are highly successful, filthy rich and have many other great business ventures operating.
Hey guys I appreciate your advice really, I’m still not sure exactly what I’m going to do, but I will keep you in loop. I appreciate it!
Ajith J
February 14th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Move on!
“No one is indispensable”. Keep this simple truth in mind and success will never go to your head nor will anyone else ever be able to stop you from reaching your goal.
William
February 14th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Ajith J,
Simple, but extremely empowering information, thanks for your comment.
David Askaripour
February 15th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Hey William,
Yeah, there definitely comes a time when you simply just have to move on and get on with your life. However, it’s cool to be persistent and to keep on pushing, but there comes a line that only you can draw — you’ll know when to draw it. Ultimately, you’ll be able to find the right person in the end and long as you keep on moving. If someone doesn’t want to help, the push for a bit and see what happens… if that doesn’t work, then move onto the next person and so on and so on…
Matt
April 14th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Hi William,
This is rather a late reply and I apologise if you have already come up with a solution.
If you’d allow me to stick my oar in with some advice, I shall!
Ok, Ajith J said in his above comment that “No one is indispensable”. Very true, but I think it comes down to how dispensible that person can be to your overall plan.
The fact remains that some people are not indespensable. Take your story about LL Cool J. What would those guys have done if they couldn’t get to LL? Go and see another LL Cool J? No, there isn’t one, therefore, if those guys went to see another rapper, would their success have been different? Maybe, one will never know.
Therefore, persistence does pay off. If you’re in sales and people keep fobbing you off, you know there is still an opening there to sell a product. Until they turn around and say ‘NO. I am not interested, please leave me alone and stop calling’, you know that customer is a dead duck. They have been honest with you and they are refusing to buy your product, not being rude directly to you.
Some people haven’t got it in them to keep persisting, but if you have seen the Will Smith movie “The Pursuit of Happiness’ you’ll see that some people have no choice other than to be persistent. It’s survive or die.
So I think you have to ask yourself the question - How much do I want or need this contact?
Only your answer can tell you whether you persist or give up. Only this contact can say ‘no’. I don’t see it’s your job to say ‘no’ for him. Don’t pre-judge. Until he says no, keep trying. ‘I don’t have time at the moment’ is not a ‘no’!
On the other hand, think of something that will benefit him to see you. Maybe he likes golf and is really competitive and your handicap is a few off being a pro. maybe you follow the same sports team. You need this guy’s help, you need to get on his level and make an investment for two tickets to the ball game.
‘My father tells me you’re a big *insert team name here*, I have tickets to the next game and a friend of mine has pulled out at the last minute and I have this ticket. I’d like to chat with you more about **** and I thought we could do it on the way to the game…’
Would that work? Think outside the box.. we all do it, but sometimes all we see are the outsides of the box!
I’m sure with all the will in the World you’ll get that meeting, just get to know this guy on a personal level, use your cunning. There’s a detective in all of us. We have a voice, we have ears… go use them!
Matt
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