In this game and life in general, it’s really about WHO you know

Introduction

Last week, my crossfit coach, who knows I like Japanese whiskeys, showed me this picture:

My first thought was, “HOLY SHIT, that’s expensive!”  My second thought, a split second later was, “Did you buy one and how many are left?”  Here, let me save you the Google search:

Now that we got that out of the way, back to my story – my coach then proceeds to tell me that every Costco in Seattle is only getting 2 bottles and his buddy just bought 4 of them.  Only 2 stores hadn’t gotten shipments in yet.  I kick myself now for not running out of my workout immediately to try to buy one, but at the time, I still was hesitant on whether I’d keep it or drink it.  Most likely, I would have kept it for a few years and then decide later.  It turns out there will be only 5,000 of these made worldwide by the way.

Anyhow, the next morning, I called up one of the 2 stores and the clerk said they just got them in that morning.  I asked him, “Well if I drive there now, will I be able to pick it up?”  He goes, “Oh yeah, I doubt anyone’s gonna pay that much for it.”  I then drive 30 minutes to the store only to be told by another employee that there were people waiting at the door before they opened to buy them.  FML.

I then drove back to work and called Total Wine, who said they did get some in earlier this month.  I then ask him what’s the best way for me to get notified when shipments like this come in; is there a waiting list?  He goes, “No, but some members have a contact with the distributor who knows exactly when things like this come in and they buy it quickly.”  My first thought was, “Game. Set. Match. That’s some next level shhh right there.”  I can’t compete with cats like that who have insider info.  

 

More Pink tickets

Then randomly the next morning, a reader of mine told me that a new allotment of Pink tickets were released in a certain city.  I was thankful he shared the info with me, and then proceeded to ask him how he knew about it.  He said he had insider info.

 

Nike shoes

Later that day, another reader told me that Nike might be releasing a particular shoe in about 10 minutes time.  Sure enough, 10 minutes later, the shoes were there!

 

I then asked him later how he knew about the tip, and he said it came from one of his Slacks for sneaker people.

 

Stock Trader story

All 3 stories reminded me of a fictional story that I read in either GQ or Esquire about 10 years ago.  It was a story about a commodities trader who had employed local guys in Africa to call him up when there was political unrest in Africa.  That way, the guy could buy and sell futures contracts of oil before anyone else had that information.  I thought it was pure genius, even for a fictional story.

 

Lessons Learned

This post wasn’t a humblebrag post; the point of all this is the importance of networking and knowing people.  Now my crossfit instructor looks out for Japanese whiskey shipments for me; I have a sneakers guy and I have people who let me know of random concerts.  There’s no way one person can know everything that’s going on.

Now you may be thinking – “well you’re a blogger and it’s easier for you to make these contacts.”  Yes that’s true, but I know a lot of non-bloggers who have more MS unicorns than I do.  They just spend a lot of time networking with folks.  If you say, “Well, I just play video games all day.”  Well, that’s great!  Then you probably know of a rare video game that may be a hot reselling item.  Watch WWE wrestling all day?  That’s great too!  Then you probably know when Wrestlemania tickets go on sale and if they’ll be profitable or not.  Trade that knowledge with each other!  How do you find each other you ask?  Go attend FTU or something.  Spend time with people on Twitter, reddit, FT, Slack, etc.  Remember, it’s all about how much time you put into this game too.  If you’re casually reading blogs all day, it’ll be hard for you to connect with people.  A reader just recently asked me how much time I put into this game.  I told him, “I put in a LOT of time networking.”