A few years ago, I read Darren Hardy’s book The Compound Effect.
The idea is simple.Small actions repeated consistently over time produce results that seem disproportionate to the effort.
Most people think about that concept in terms of money, health, habits, or business. Lately, I’ve been thinking about it differently.
I think relationships compound too.
When I look back at my career, many of the best things that have happened to me started with a simple conversation.
- A phone call.
- A lunch.
- A coffee meeting.
- An introduction.
At the time, none of those moments felt particularly important. Most of them didn’t lead to anything immediate.
- No deal.
- No opportunity.
- No big breakthrough.
- Just a conversation.
But years later, some of those same people became close friends, business partners, mentors, clients, referral sources, or opened
doors I never knew existed.
It’s funny how often that happens.
One of the reasons I enjoy interviewing successful people on my What’s Working Now podcast is that almost every conversation
reminds me of the same thing.
Very few successful people got where they are alone.
Behind almost every successful person is a network of relationships they’ve built over years and sometimes decades.
- One introduction leads to another.
- One conversation leads to another.
- One friendship leads to another.
And eventually, opportunities begin showing up that look like luck from the outside.
A friend of mine calls it “Who Luck.”
I love that phrase.
The idea is that many of the opportunities in our lives come through people.
- Not because we manipulated a relationship.
- Not because we expected something in return.
- Simply because we stayed connected.
That’s one reason I’ve always believed in staying in touch.
- Not just when I need something.
- Especially when I don’t.
The older I get, the more I realize that relationships are one of the few investments that tend to appreciate with time.
The challenge is that we usually don’t know which relationship will matter most.
That’s why I’ve learned to treat them all as important.
- The Loan Officer you talk to today.
- The person you meet at a conference.
- The friend you haven’t called in six months.
- The former colleague you bump into unexpectedly.
- You never know.
Maybe that’s why relationships compound. Not because every conversation changes your life. But because every once in a while, one does. And the only way to know is to keep showing up.
So let me ask you something.
Who is someone you haven’t talked to in a while that you’d genuinely enjoy reconnecting with this week?