Episode 150 - Participate in Your Trade Association - Get out of Isolation

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I get hired by all sorts of organizations to speak at their conventions and leadership conferences. At a convention of prison wardens I learned that the number one punishment feared most by inmates is solitary confinement; even the hardest of the hard need human contact in their lives. A couple of months later I delivered a keynote for an association of meeting planners and the president lamented to me that she could not understand why so many members choose to not attend meetings. In her words, “It’s like they keep themselves in solitary confinement.”

What a parallel! That got me to thinking about people who hate their jobs and founder in careers that others have found to be fantastic. I think a big difference is isolation. The people who join their trade associations and go to the meetings and conferences are usually near the top in their industry. They’re committed and active. That’s a great group to associate with to speed up your career growth. It beats the alternative, which is staying isolated and having to re-invent solutions to industry challenges others have already left in the dust.

My Dad was a small volume contractor for 20 years before he decided to become active in the Home Builders Association. He has said he never made any real money until he started attending seminars and conventions that opened his eyes to far greater possibilities than this upbringing on a little farm in southern Kansas would of allowed. He stepped out of isolation.

I recommend to you, it’s smart to hang around the brightest in your business. And the easiest place to find them is in your trade association. Join and participate.

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Tags: business, network, networking, relationship

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Episode 150 - Participate in Your Trade Association - Get out of Isolation

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