Have I wrung this opportunity dry — absolutely, completely dry?
If persistence pays off, how far do you persist?
How often do you persist (politely) until you’ve wrong an opportunity dry—absolutely, completely dry?
As I wrote on Inc.com yesterday in “How to Build the Best Relationships With Both Leaders and Superiors,” people appreciate helping others—if you behave like you deserve it, but not like you’re entitled.
A student of mine was applying to graduate school. She told me how she applied and had visited a few of the schools she was applying to. She had researched some professors she wanted to work with but hadn’t contacted them—even in her number one choice school. While I recognized she had other priorities, like her current studies, I could tell she hadn’t yet learned the value of persisting until she had wrung the opportunity out for everything she could get out of it—for the mutual benefit of everyone involved, not annoyance.
Learning to work every angle you can until you get the deal, building relationships in the process, takes time. It’s a part of learning to hustle. I love doing it. I hope you do too.
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