Networking with Old Faithful
Old Faithful really isn’t faithful! If you ask most people why it is named as it is, they will say, “Because it erupts regularly.” And actually, it doesn’t!
Old Faithful erupts frequently, compared to most geisers. But the eruptions are irregularly spaced, from 30 minutes to 90 minutes or so. It isn’t regular at all!
Because Old Faithful is frequent enough that nobody has to wait very long for it to show up, even if it isn’t there all the time, every time, it is predictable enough that people BELIEVE it is regular.
There’s a lesson there. In networking, you have to show up. You don’t have to be there every time, but you have to be there the majority of the time. You don’t have to be on time every time, but you do have to get there nearly every time.
If you do, people will think you are Old Faithful. They will believe you are always there, even when you aren’t! They will think you are reliable, and they’ll assume that your business is too.
So just keep trying. If you get it 90% of the time, people will be willing to believe that you got it the other 10% also.
That’s a powerful networking advantage.