Is working hard the key to success and riches? I believe Lane Kirkland said it best, “If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.” There is a tradeoff to success. A great question to ask yourself is “who is the hardest working person I know and who is the most successful person I know?” I am willing to bet you, it is not the same person. There is a huge difference between working hard and working smart.

The secret to long term success in sales and in business is having a profitable referral source. I mean someone who gives you steady business on a daily or weekly basis. It may be mutual business or seemingly unrelated, but yet profitable. This is way more important than all of the advertising you can buy. How do I develop a profitable referral source to get rich and become successful?

Understanding that we fall into three categories with our referral sources is important. We are either visible, creditable or profitable to each source. Your referral source may know you that means you are visible. They may know you and trust you enough to refer you business that means you are credible. Ultimately, we need to be known and trusted in order to be profitable. Working towards being profitable takes time and effort. This takes a commitment on both parties part. It is not an overnight solution.

Once the trust is built, you need to be the bigger person and give first. When we give business to another person without an expectation, something psychological happens. This person will naturally want to repay the favor. If not, you need to find another referral source. This one is just plain greedy. The successful business owner or salesperson gets the two way street of I help you and you will want to help me. If we help each other both of our businesses grow, we become successful and we get rich.

Find a great networking group with like-minded professionals just like you and become visible, credible and ultimately profitable to them and yourself and begin to work smart not hard and get rich.

Here’s to your success!

“Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you”—Coach John Wooden

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, grandfather of 2, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, employee benefit specialist, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger, author and team leader with over 31 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.