Little things mean a lot.

Take a single grain of sand.
It’s the most common element on earth. You can find it on every continent. And
not just along the shores. It is at the heart of each computer and just about
every permanent structure that serves mankind.

A single grain is virtually
invisible…unless it happens to be the mote in your eye.

In that case, that single
well-placed speck is the most important thing in your life. That tiny
messenger, by being in the right place, can demand all your attention. Nothing
else can get your undivided focus until you have removed it.

One small particle can
capture if not captivate you.

A handful can demonstrate
human nature. Think back to the last time you scooped a handful of sand up and
poured it from hand to hand. Wander down memory lane to the beach and cupping
your hand to hold as many grains as possible. Remember what happened when you
squeezed it. Do you recall how it first squirted and then dribbled out between
your fingers and how much less there was when you again cupped your hand?

Customers and prospects,
family and friends, staff and employees are all like that handful of sand. The
harder you squeeze the less you have. The more you put pressure on them the
more they stream away from you.

An open caring relationship
keeps more of them with you.

Can there ever be enough?
Each of you must make that decision. But the more there are, the greater the
risk of losing some through inattention and the vagaries of the winds of time.

Think about that picnic on
the beach when the breeze picked up. How about the first time you saw a sand
dune. Stop now and consider the number of grains that there were in that dune
you climbed. Imagine stacking them up to get someone’s attention. What do you
see in your mind’s eye? Do you see the dune or the grains? Your business, your
career and your life are like that. Each action, every statement as well as any
and all your behaviors add to the stack, grain on grain, until people see the
combined aspect.

That shifting, wind-sculpted
mass is your persona. It’s the face you present to the world, at once ever
changing and yet the same. It is your achievements taken together, which are
perceived.

You, your career and your
company are the sum total of your deeds and those of the folks you draw around
you.

You can choose to be a mild
irritation blown helter skelter by each passing breeze or you can add a little
water, some lime and cement and have mortar.

Mortar. With it you can lay
brick on brick and build strong and straight and tall. Suddenly the world sees
you differently. You’re no longer a drifter. You’ve settled. You’re going to
make something of this choice you’ve made.

But be wary. You must mix
well to make sure the edifice stands. Too little sand or too much and the hold
on the bricks crumbles. Better perhaps to add some chunks of rock to the mix
and fill a form with the amazing material the Romans discovered and named. We
call it concrete.

It is a reasonable symbol of
how a business or a career or a life can be built that will last. One of the
Roman’s aqueducts still carries water to Rome
centuries after it was built. It was conceived by engineers and constructed by
men proud of their craft. It was a joint effort. No single individual could
claim all the credit. Yes, some took more risks than others but all
acknowledged it was a group effort.

They, like we, were and are
interdependent. Today that interdependence is becoming global. The World Wide
Web is allowing more of us to be swept along together than ever before. The
grains are accreting.

Some are trying to squeeze
profits from them. Others see only the encroaching dunes. This Age of Access is
still in flux. Nothing, as yet, is cast in concrete.

Only the sands of time will
tell.

Contacts, like grains of
sand, add up. Talk to an expert in contact management about building your
business or learn more from his CRM blog posts for small businesses. Here’s a link to the best integrated small business CRM I’ve found.

Jerry Fletcher, the Portland based master of connecting businesses
to the next level can be reached at Z-axis Marketing, Inc. at 800-533-2893 or
via e-mail at Ninja@CenturyTel.net

Learn more about him at:
Speaking: www.NetworkingNinja.com
Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com