Do not ask a rich man to give you money. Rather, ask him for an opportunity to help him make more money. If you have a habit of asking rich people for money, they will cut you.
But if you have a habit of coming up with ideas to help them make more money, you will join the inner circle, and they will reward you. Relationship building with people at the top demands many nuances: do not hit the send button on impulse. Focus on one thing at a time and make the email very short.
When in their presence, do not talk too much – focus on listening even if you think you are very knowledgeable. From that listening, you will get their priorities and see how to position yourself for opportunities. But when they want you to talk, take over the moments.
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Always remember – the best time to win hearts for opportunities is when there is no opportunity. Develop a capability at least in one specific area so that when the moment arrives, the inner aides will call for you. I promise you, one job with them can cover all your toils for a year. But they want quality and I mean absolute quality because before them you are nothing but a number. Where you fail to deliver, you are out. That wealth was not built by assembling failures.
That you have a man’s business card does not mean you have a relationship with him. The key is to understand the small frictions he has, and then architect a roadmap. A durable business relationship that is asymmetric in nature can only work when there are benefits: you must offer something of value to the other person. Yes, just as companies accumulate capabilities, you must offer something of value to build and nurture that relationship.
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