Expectations monetization

Nothing looks more promising and turns out to be more disappointing than investing in a business relationship in pointless hope to gain some cloudy prospects in the future.

Relationship management is indeed an essential aspect of any business, but let me hammer this home for you: if you invest more than 5 minutes a week into a vague business relationship without clear goals and coherent agenda, I have some bad news. You’re wasting your precious time.

When relationship management becomes the very purpose of your communication with a potential partner, you forget one of the very few ACTUALLY meaningful things they teach in high school: the goal must be SMART. In other words, if you’re missing out specificity and measurability, the best thing you can do is to sit down with your vis-a-vis and have an honest chat about what you both are actually looking for.

Seriously, nobody cares for vague perspectives and potential benefits that may never actually happen. Expectations are arduous to monetize: you’re waiting for some magical results from constant networking? What’s your actual plan, terms, and conditions? If you don’t have any, turn your partner into a silence mode — 5 minutes a month is more than enough to catch up and chit chat.

Originally posted on Medium: Expectations monetization

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