Its not what you know, but who you know...

Well, that is partially right.

We have a new hire at work and he was asking for input for someone right out of school. I responded with two things:

1) Everyone in the company should know your name. This is that classic "Its not what you know, but who you know." Make it a constant effort to meet people and make sure they know who you are. Don't be afraid to drop in to the upper management's offices and ask them questions. Especially focus on the ones who are in a position that you would like to eventually be in. Ask them about their career path and how they got where they are. Some of the hardest working, most intelligent people I know have not gotten anywhere because they have not put any time in to getting their names known.

2) Do your job well. It is great if everyone knows your name, but lets face it, if you suck at your job you will not be going far. And then everyone knowing your name will backfire, BIG TIME. It you have no desire to do your job well and you just want to half-ass your way through life, avoid #1. BUT, if everyone knows your name AND you do a great job, it will accelerate your climb up the ladder.

Both of these have to be in place, and you have to do what is necessary to start building on them from the start.

Now you might be asking yourself, "Ok, that is all good, but why is this on an internet marketing blog post?" Well I think an analogy can be made to the internet.

Think about it...what are you trying to do? Bring people to your site. You do this by being in the right position with the search engines (i.e. #1 - who you know, or who knows you).

But if you don't have quality content (i.e. #2 - you aren't doing your job well), then no matter how many visitors come to your site no one will be interested. The will not stay. And they will not do whatever it is you are trying to bring them there to do.

So the lesson is don't focus all you effort on one, only to complete forget about the other. Balance the two, and you will succeed.

Here's to your success,

-Robert Ashmore
www.TakeoverSuccess.com