I blew it. I was at Tim Hortons on my way home from hockey. The guy behind the counter apparently saw my ‘Laurier‘ sweatshirt and asked if I’d gone there. When I replied in the affirmative, the conversation went as expected.

Him: What’d you take?

Me: PoliSci

Him: Ah, a Politics guy. What do you do now?

Me: Well, not politics! I work for an local search engine.

Him: [blank stare]

Me: [15-second elevator speech]

Him: oh, like the yellow pages!

Me: Yep. [hands over business card]

Him: Cool. Have good night.

Me: Later.

So, what did I do wrong? What’s missing from the conversation? From the transcript above, what do you now know about the guy behind the counter? Nothing. That was my mistake – I didn’t engage.

I recently picked up (and am half-way through) Darcy Rezac’s book Work the Pond. So far, a few things have stood out:

  1. The best opportunities often come from the ‘weakest’ contacts – mere acquaintances.
  2. Treat all contacts like Gold.
  3. Always carry (and dispense) business cards – really, always.
  4. Every conversation is a networking opportunity.

So I had my cards with me (even though I was just playing hockey). Great. I gave one to the guy. Great. I have no idea who the guy is. Not so great. What I should have done is obvious in hindsight. Did he go to Laurier? If yes, what did he study? Is the Timmy’s thing his only gig? Who knows, maybe he’s a crack freelance ASP.NET web developer – we need one of those. Maybe if not him, maybe if someone in his family is someone who has data or technology or whatever that can help my employer (or me ;) ).

I’ll never know – opportunity lost.

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