Archimedes’ dial and chemical plants

I just watched the new Indiana Jones movie, the Dial of Destiny last night.

Indy is like 80 in the movie.

And he is struggling. 

He can’t find his place in a world in which he’s NOT the adventuring hero.

About 1/3rd of the way through the adventure that inevitably occurs, our hero is making his case to the NEW young hero, his god-daughter, for why she needs him.

Finally, he says something to the effect of: “I have a friend who is the best diver in the world, and he has a boat. You need me.”

Turns out, she does need a boat, and Jones is in.

Watching this scene, I was struck by the power of a network.

Indy can’t swing on a bullwhip across chasms anymore (well, the movie makes it seem like he can), but he still has friends. 

This is the point…

You will never be too old for relationships.

They are the best investment you will ever make. Pick the right network and they could be calling you for favors in your 80’s.

We’ve all heard the cliche “Your network is your net-worth.”

The thing about cliches is, they are usually correct.

In my case, that is certainly true. 

95% of all my career opportunities have come from personal or professional connections.

Reminds me of my very first real opportunity.

I was in college working on my EE degree, sophomore year, when my phone rang.

My mom: “Can you email me your resume?”

Me: “Sure, why?”

Mom: “Steve, your dad’s friend heard that a guy from the DuPont chemical plant is at your college doing internship interviews. He wants your resume to send to the interviewer.”

Long story short, I interviewed, got the $28/hr job working over the summer, and it changed my life.

I have a dozen other stories like that.

So, I am bullish on networking. 

It’s taken an embarrassingly long time to apply that to my social media growth journey.

But, in the last month I’ve started leaning into it.

You should too.

Here is the plan I’ve been executing to be more social on social media:

• 1 DM a day to someone I respect online. This is the moonshot DM. Most don’t reply. Some do. And that’s cool.

• 1 DM a day to a growth peer. This is someone with close to my follower count, plus or minus 1-2k.

• Taking DM conversations to online calls.

None of these DMs or calls are sales oriented. I’m just making friends. 

That’s it for today. 

What is your networking strategy? Reply to this email and let me know.

See you tomorrow,

Swanagan

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