A few days ago, I watched an inspiring movie called “At Close Range.”
It stars Sean Penn as Brad Whitewood Jr, a criminally inclined yute. Christopher Walken plays Brad Whitewood Sr, the yute’s criminally proficient deadbeat dad.
Brad Jr wants in on the action that Brad Sr has going — stealing tractors from dealership lots.
Eventually, Brad Sr relents and decides to bring his son into the gang. So they take a walk through the woods, smoking a joint, while Brad Sr explains how the whole operation works.
“And this group of guys,” Jr asks him, “it’s all over the country? It’s organized?”
“Organized?” Brad Sr says in his halting, nasal way. “It’s just guys. I know guys… My brothers know some… Everybody knows some people. Before you know it, you know everybody you need to get the job done.”
This reminded me of a bit of wisdom I heard from real estate guru Joe McCall.
Joe does 50+ real estate deals each year, while comfortably pulling in $50k-$100k each month.
And to hear him tell it, he doesn’t work very hard at it. That’s because one of his success principles is “Don’t ask ‘how’, ask ‘who.'”
Joe explains in more detail:
“While it may seem smart to ask ‘how’ questions — like ‘How do I set up a website,’ ‘How should I create my bandit signs,’ or ‘How do I do the direct mail?’ — it’s much better to ask ‘Who,’ as in ‘Who can do this for me?'”
That might be something to consider, whether you’re engaged in tractor stealing or real estate or direct response marketing. If you’re not achieving the success you want, maybe the trouble is you’re trying to go it alone.
Fortunately, the fix is simple. Everybody knows some people. And they know people… Pretty soon, you know everybody you need to get the job done.