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.
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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.
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.
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!
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.
Ajith J,
Simple, but extremely empowering information, thanks for your comment.
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…
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