The Business Growth Blog by Rob Cuesta

Is this the worst business card ever?

I was at a show for startup businesses a couple of weeks ago in London. Taking a break from the stand I joined some fellow exhibitors for lunch. At one point we were interrupted by the arrival of a shadowy figure who walked up to the table and - without a word - dropped a single business card into the centre of the table then walked on to the next table.

Now, I could probably write a whole blog post just discussing his method of approaching us, but let's look at his business card...

The passing of a legend - farewell Jim Rohn

I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing a few days ago of one of the great figures of the Personal Development industry, Jim Rohn. I have been a subscriber to his newsletter for many years, and have learned much from his seminars and recordings. Indeed, it was one of his recordings that kick-started the recovery of my business back in 2005.

He was also an inspiration to other "greats" in the industry such as Tony Robbins, Les Brown and Brian Tracy. His death leaves a gap that will be hard to fill, as befits one of the great personal brands in his field.

A tribute site for this unique and inspirational character has been set up for his friends and students at http://tribute.jimrohn.com/

Farewell, then, to one of the masters. We will not leave you behind; we will take you with us in our thoughts and in our hearts.

Schrodinger's Lunch - does business networking work?

At a recent workshop I ran, one of the attendees asked whether networking works.

I know people in business who swear by the power of networking meetings in growing their business. I also know people who swear just at the thought of going networking. The reality is that for some people it works, and for others it doesn't.

It's a little like Schrodinger's cat. Schrodinger imagined a thought experiment that goes as follows: imagine a cat in a sealed box. In the box there is also a piece of radioactive material that is decaying and will ultimately kill the cat (remember - this is an imaginary cat, not a real one!). How do you know the cat whether the cat is alive or dead? You can't know until you open the box¹.

Networking is much the same: you won't know if it works for you until you try it. And whether networking will work for a particular person is down to two things.