Week 33: Network Like a Gangster

The Comeback - Week 33 (41,000 Subs):

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Everyone wants a powerful network.

But how to network when you don’t have a network?!

Great question. One I used to ask myself. Daily.

After turning up to random business events in my prom suit hoping I could lure in a few victims with flashy business cards I decided I’d need a new approach.

Thankfully, I stumbled upon a secret method.

Shockingly simple.

Foolproof in fact.

100% guaranteed success rate. 

It WORKS! 

Every. Single.

Damn. Time.

And before you ask... NO! 

I did not learn this from a guru on LinkedIn.

I learned it from a Gangster.

You read that right.

A motherf*cking gangster.

And now I’ve had some time to put this method to the test and can safely say it’s an absolute game changer.

So today I share it with you.

Another string to your bow on the journey from David to Goliath.

How to Network (like a Gangster):

The Gangster in question is a character by the name of XXXX in the movie Layer Cake.

It’s the movie that won Daniel Craig the Bond role so yeah… it’s pretty epic and it’ll teach you more about life than any textbook, course or classroom ever could.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Layer Cake, here’s the summary:

A successful cocaine dealer (Daniel Craig) gets two tough assignments from his boss on the eve of his planned early retirement and attempts to quit while he's ahead.

Then slowly but surely everything falls apart and he has to use his initiative to try and stitch it back together. The main strategy is strategically navigating powerful relationships of mob bosses.

I won’t spoil the ending but it’s certainly an unexpected twist!

So anyway, one Friday evening whilst sitting in my flat wondering if I’d ever figure this networking myth out I put on Layer Cake to cheer myself up.

As I sat there in my pants contemplating my borderline eating disorder as I stuffed in yet another large Domino pizza (a lovely thought, I know) suddenly it clicked.

One line from the film that connected all the networking dots.

“The art of good business is being a good middle man”.

“THAT’S IT!” I shouted.

I threw down the pizza in Euphoria and stood on my couch clinching the air with fists raised.

“Stop focusing on building your network Nigel!”

Instead, build someone else’s.

That is exactly what I did and what I still do to this day.

So if like me you don’t have a network.

And you don’t know where to start.

Just do this:

Find two successful people who can solve each other's problems and introduce them to each other.

Do this 100 times, and you’ll have helped 200 people.

Boom. Now, you have a network.

One simple strategy that can unlock the doors to all your wildest dreams.

That’s all for today.

Short. Sweet. Straight to the point.

But I will leave you with this astonishingly accurate quote from the main mob boss of the film, Eddie Temple (played by Michael Gambon) - as he lectures Daniel Craig on how the game really works:

“You're born, you take shit. You get out in the world, you take more shit. You climb a little higher, you take less shit. Till one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere and you've forgotten what shit even looks like. Welcome to the layer cake son.”

Turns out Gangsters and entrepreneurs aren’t so different after all.

If you know, you know.

Yours truly,

-Nigel Thomas

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