Lessons from Oak Island

  

I am totally hooked on the History Channel's show "The Curse of Oak Island".  The two main stars, brothers, became enthralled with the chase of treasure after reading an article in Reader's Digest about the island and its secrets.  Life went on, they grew up and built a name for themselves in their respective professions. The elder, Marty, is an engineer who has made his fortune in the energy business.  Rick, the younger, is a retired postal worker.  

Lesson 1:
Each has a reputation in his profession as being the best, not a treasure hunter.  That is their brand.  The Oak Island treasure hunt is part of their brand.

They never gave up their treasure hunting dream, doing small things working toward the end goal while building their expertise in their brand.  In the last few years, Rick and Marty decided it was time to start their new venture. They started networking to get funding to start the hunt.  The network is working together for the treasure.

Lesson 2:
The network is there to help them achieve the treasure.  It is not the treasure.  

They grew a network of people from various backgrounds to help with the last greatest treasure hunt.  These are professionals in the diving (who knew there were different type of diving specialties?) and drilling profession, engineers, and a slew of others.  I have seen divers do their work in wells, mud and ocean, each one top of their profession.  I have seen experts work their magic with metal detectors of all kinds.  I never knew there were so many types of detectors!

Lesson 3:
Their network includes people of all kinds of different professions because Rick and Marty know they don't have the expertise in all areas to achieve their goal, the treasure.  

During the interview parts of the show, the stars always talk about the how the professionals are experts in their fields and they are positive they can work with them.

Lesson 4:
Rick and Marty are never afraid of new people who can bring a needed speciality to the network.  But all the time, they are making sure that everyone has the same goal.  

This is a perfect picture of how branding and networking goes hand in hand.  You always want to brand yourself and not make your product your brand.  You want people to trust that you know what you are marketing - whether it is your company or referring customers to another Network Marketing representative.

In review:

Are you skipping over the foundational building of your brand for a get rich quick treasure?
Do you look at your network as people who can help you in your business or do you view them as just customers?
Are you always looking for people who have specialties that will propel your team to the top or are you just adding people who contribute nothing to the team and may be a hindrance just because you think they will get you to your treasure quicker?
Do you add friends to your friends list just to get a bigger list of people to sell to or do you research before hand to make sure you have the same beliefs, work ethics and especially the same end goal?