When the Answer is NO

I have just got off the phone with a fellow-member of a networking group.

I have noticed him at meetings, sitting, smiling, talking to no-one when everyone else is chatting before the meeting and during the break.

My first clue was his business card, run off on an inkjet printer and the ink smudged.

I called him this morning as a follow-up chat, since we had sat at the same table.

His view of the networking group is myopic. He is, he states, there to find someone who will prospect and market and sell for him; he offers 20% commission.

Basically he wants to hire a sales & marketing staff, part time, at no risk to him.

Oddly enough, his view of the group is that they are all there to sell marketing.

That was the bell-ringing red-flag-waving signal.

If you are here to find someone to do the non-technical side of your business, and if you think everyone here is trying to do it for you, how come you haven't hooked up with someone after all this time?

To every suggestion, his answer is "No"; there are no maybes; there is no hint of "Well I'll give it a try".

There is no risk-taking at all from his side.

There is no hope that can be realized without risk.

It is true in Love, it is true in business.

I hung up the 'phone …..