If you haven’t already noticed, I’m a big fan of analogies. Not sure what prompted this one (high gas prices in Austin?), but I think you’ll enjoy it.

This particular analogy can be used quite broadly, but for this example I’m going to focus on networking and/or marketing to grow a business.

 

Think of your business as your vehicle. The speed you’re traveling represents revenue or profits, the higher the MPH the larger the dollars coming in. The gas pedal is your personal marketing and networking efforts.

 

When you start from a dead stop you have to apply more pressure to the accelerator just to get moving. At first the progress is slow and your engine has to work hard. Once you’ve applied consistent pressure you’re able to build speed fairly consistently until you finally reach a comfortable (legal?) speed you’d like to maintain. Fortunately in the business world there are no speed limits!

 

Here’s the important point. Once you’ve reached your desired speed you must continue to apply pressure to the accelerator just to maintain your speed.

 

If you spend a lot of time an energy building a network and then take your foot off the gas you will begin to slow down, and eventually stop! You’ll get the best results for your business if you are consistent over a long period of time. In networking there is no cruise control. You have to personally exert the effort; you can’t just set it and forget it.

 

In order to maintain a constant speed you must keep your foot on the Accelerator!

 

Happy networking!

 

Scott Ingram