Exposure plus 95 cents might buy you a decent cup of coffee. The key is to 'position' yourself in your market as the expert, the resource, the only person your prospect would ever even THINK of doing business with, or referring to others.

It isn't just what you know, and it isn't just who you know. It's actually who you know, who knows you, and what you do for a living.

Think about it: everybody you know, everyone that you meet, also know about 250 people. So every time you cultivate a relationship with one new person, you have actually expanded your personal inventory by 250 people - every single time.

How far can you push a rope? Not very far. That's why true influencers don't push.

Go looking for conflict, and you'll find it. Go looking for people to take advantage of you, and they generally will. See the world as a dog-eat-dog place, and you'll always find a bigger dog looking at you as if you're his next meal. Go looking for the best in people, and you'll be amazed at how much talent, ingenuity, empathy, and good will you'll find. Ultimately, the world treats you more or less the way you expect to be treated.

When it comes to influence, TRUST is often the missing piece.

Selling - at its core - is not a business transaction. It is first and foremost the forging of a human connection.