I’ve been waxing poetic on all the ways American education fails for over a year now. Not only do I find it disheartening that we still insist on the status quo of churning out compliant factory workers, but I’m empathetic to the plight of my peers who fell for the promise of higher education’s return on investment.

But what’s the answer if a college education is no longer worth it for most people? (We’re excluding physicians, lawyers, engineers, etc.)

Self learning.

“The magic of teaching is vastly overstated, mostly by teachers, and by those who staff programs that have economic interest in teaching prospective teachers how to teach.” — In the Basement of the Ivory Tower

After interviewing a wide range of millionaires for his book, “The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late” Michael Ellsberg contends that most successful people learn their most critical skills outside of school.

Ellsberg argues that education is not the same thing as academic excellence and highlights 7 success skills that people can leverage to become financially successful in their own careers. Leveraging these 7 skills you should be able to create a career for yourself that can’t be outsourced, offshored or automated.

I won’t discuss all 7 here (you’ll have to read the book), but the skill that resonated most for me was having an entrepreneurial mindset. He explains that people with the entrepreneurial mindset relentlessly focus on the outcome they want to produce in the world and in their lives. Alternatively, people with an employee mindset feel satisfied working harder and harder without paying attention to whether their efforts are producing the outcomes they want.

You can’t be the type of person who aimlessly follows ‘orders’ from your boss. Proactively go out and find problems within your organization, help solve them, AND THEN return to your boss to show them the results. That’s how you succeed; that’s how you get promoted.

On the employee mindset:

People with the employee mindset may work hard. Very, very hard. But they haul ass along a path others have created for them; they don’t create their own path. They are the passive recipients of instructions, orders and guidance, not the active creators of their own world. They do not have the answers; someone else does. They do what others around them tell them and expect them to do. They hope — indeed, expect and demand — that, if they please the people above them, a steady stream of benefits will flow their way. (“I did what you told me. Now give me my reward!”) If the reward is not forthcoming, they complain and get bogged down in bitterness and resentment, like a child who didn’t get a candy from Mommy.

To people with the employee mind-set, power resides elsewhere, not within themselves. There may be some safety and security in clinging to the employee mindset because those with employee mindset rely on someone more powerful and resourceful than themselves to save them and shield them from risk.

Here are two additional quotes I really appreciated:

On reciprocation:

“If you want to succeed, find leaders who are doing amazing things in the world, and push them up. Find powerful people and help them reach their goals. If you’re of service to them, they will be of service back.”

On entitlement:

“There are two decisions you need to come to in order to be free, and to be more effective. First is that you are not entitled to anything in the world, until you create value for another human being first. Second, you are 100 percent responsible for producing results. No one else. If you adopt those two views, you will go far.”

I’m not really the audience for Ellsberg’s book anymore, but I sure wish someone would’ve handed to me as an undergraduate. If you’re looking for direction and/or guidance in your education or career I encourage you to pick up the book. The people out there tinkering, starting businesses, failing, refining their ideas through exploration… Rest assured they’re getting ahead and acquiring valuable real world experience in an ever-changing world.

To be clear, I’m not telling you to forgo a college degree (maybe one in the arts), but I am pleading with you to take control of your life – before it’s too late.

Was your college education worth it? Was it applicable to the job you’re doing now? Do you catch yourself following orders and getting complacent rather than proactively searching for solutions? What is something you wished you learned in school? Here’s some topics other young professionals wished they would’ve learned in school.

If you enjoyed this review please consider subscribing to receive future updates or connecting with me via Twitter or LinkedIn

Ramit Sethi is getting ready to launch his dream job course.

Ordinarily leading up to their product launches I temporarily unsubscribe from even my favorite bloggers because I get tired of the ‘hard’ sell; HOWEVER, lately Ramit’s free stuff has been superior to most people’s paid products so I’ve consumed and bookmarked as much I could.

I wish I could print it out, get it bound and give it to my friends currently job searching or trying to upgrade their current job situation. More importantly, I wish they’d read it and take action.

One of the most frustrating things for me is hearing many of my friends (mid-late 20s, well-educated) complaining that they’re not getting jobs they’re passionate about.

I’ve been fortunate thus far in my (short) career to find work I’m passionate about doing, but I’m not an expert. Ramit is.

Here’s two good quotes on passion from Ramit that I wish I would’ve wrote:

Ramit On Passiveness:

Most of us approach our passions in a passive way. After all, we don’t know any other way. We go through school, taking classes someone else prescribes for us, doing the same 5 activities, passing the tests, getting decent grades, and then we’re thrust into the real world. The only thing is, there are no “grades” in real life, and there are infinite paths we could take.

It’s no wonder we’re bad at finding our passion. Nobody taught us how to make conscious, strategic choices — sometimes unpopular choices. Instead, at every step, we were encouraged to take the safe, prescribed route.

Look, nobody expects you to have found your passion at 25, or 30, or even 35 — but I do expect you to be taking micro-steps to discover it. When you use phrases like “I want to find something I love,” you’re betraying yourself: Instead of actively seeking out what you’d love to do, you’re waiting for your passion to somehow magically fall from the sky.

Forget for a second how modern-day education teaches that mediocre obedience is the key to success. Cowards point the finger and assign blame, but high performers actively (and strategically) acquire more skills and seek to learn more about themselves.

How many people do you know who went to law school just because they didn’t know the hell they wanted to do when they graduated? What steps are you taking today to discover your own passion(s)?

Ramit On Finding Your Passion:

Most of us operate with the Invisible Script that we’re waiting for our passion to somehow materialize. That’s why we use code words like “I need to find…” and “I really want to…” instead of the words that top performers use: “I’m so excited about ___” and “I don’t know if this is what I’ll do forever, but right now I’m learning a ton.”

I have a different view of passion. It’s a messy, circuitous process. You have to dig through cobwebs and explore a kaleidoscope of patterns, getting your hands dirty in the process of discovery. It’s like shopping at Ross.

Compare this to the dainty idea most of us have of waiting under a parasol for the rain clouds to clear and a ray of passion to warm our bodies. Not gonna happen.

I love this because, like so many other things we try to categorize and nail-down, passion is fluid. One day you’re passionate about photography. Years later you’re burned out and you’re passionate about running, or cooking, or landscaping.

Your passions are going to change so find something that makes you happy right now (or involves doing some tasks that you’ll acquire energy from) and do the best you can at that until you’re ready for the next logical progression.

Stop looking for the all-encompassing job that meets all the criteria you’ve set forth in those imaginary check boxes. It doesn’t work for significant others and it won’t work for a job.

Have you found a job you’re passionate about? If so, how did you go about acquiring that job? What percentage of the tasks you do on a daily basis align with your passions? What advice would you give to someone trying to find their passion? A job that they’re passionate about?

Keith Ferrazzi is partially responsible for this blog existing. It was after reading Keith’s last book, “Never Eat Alone” that I transformed my thinking on relationship marketing and I started this little place on the web.

Now, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of reading an advanced copy of Keith’s new book, “Who’s Got Your Back?” and I want to share with you some of the most important insights I found in the book.

The premise of the book is that you can’t get to the top, or anywhere for that matter, relying solely on yourself and that the key to achieving your dreams comes from having “lifeline relationships.” Keith teaches you how to build these trusting relationships that won’t let you fail.

Check out the video review below, and then if you’re still interested – the notes after.

Here are my 4 Key Takeaways:

1.) Whether you want to surround yourself with a dream team or not, you should ensure that you’re practicing the four mindsets in your life: generosity, vulnerability, candor and accountability.

2.) Sparring – do it frequently, with people you trust, people that can help you grow. A great quote from the book, “The goal of an argument is not a victory, it’s progress.”

3.) It’s about collaboration not compromise. Speaks for itself eh?

4.) This is a great book for leaders. By the time you finish it you can’t help but think, “Man, it’d be awesome to work for a guy like Keith.” He’ll challenge you to get better, but you can also approach him candidly and tell him what he’s doing that adversely affects you and what he could do to make you a better employee, and consequently make the business more profitable.

So who’s this book for?
1.) Anyone who genuinely wants to take their career and personal life to the next level via a team/trusted group of advisors
2.) Leaders and people in managerial roles
3.) Fresh-faced college grads that want to get a leg up on their peers

If you’re interested in purchasing “Who’s Got Your Back?” or “Never Eat Alone,” you can find them on Amazon here. If you purchase from this link Keith’s team will be buying me a beer. If you’d rather not here’s the link minus the affiliate URL: “Who’s Got Your Back?”

This is a guest post I did for Lewis Howes’ Sports Networker. I am re-posting it here for your convenience, and so that it can be archived with my other content. If you’re interested in sports networking Lewis is a great person to know. You can find him on Twitter @LewisHowes

Sports companies and brands have traditionally been slow at adopting web 2.0 and social media strategies. This is unfortunate because fans are all over the web having conversations about your brands without you. Joining this space, and potentially becoming a prevalent figure in this space will give your sports company the added advantage of gaining valuable insight into your fans’ culture and conversations. It is not crazy to think that you could leverage the knowledge you gain in this space to increase revenue for your company or your team. People like Lewis are helping lead this movement.

Today, I want to discuss various ways you can use Twitter, an extremely hot social networking and micro-blogging service that lets you broadcast a 140 character message to your followers, to start embracing this movement and promoting your sports company.

I would not encourage diving into uncharted Twitter territory headfirst. People that use the platform to only promote their own work will quickly lose respect of others that are contributing to relevant communities, be it sports, social media or both. First, I would suggest reading up on some of Twitter’s best practices. Then, once you have a general feel for how to add value, consider following prevalent sports figures currently on Twitter.

Here’s a couple to get you started:

@LewisHowes
@BrianGainor
@JasonPeck

Following and learning from other sports marketers, networkers, and social media enthusiasts enables you to see how they are using Twitter and gives you some indication as to how you should approach your own Twitter strategy. Reach out, add value to their networks, and connect so that you can learn new things from each of them. In addition, if all of us that are passionate about helping lead sports into web 2.0 start collaborating chances are we can all benefit one another and the sports industry.

Once you have got the basics down and started connecting with other prevalent sports figures, you can promote your sports company (or brand, etc.) by pointing consumers, fans and advocates to your content. When I write a blog post that I am proud of and I think it will genuinely add value to the lives of my followers I send out a tweet with the link. It’s no coincidence that on these days, my blog receives the most amount of traffic.

Let me reiterate that you should refrain from tweeting everything you produce. Here are a couple of tips for promoting your content via Twitter:

a.) Make sure that it is some of your best work or something that you are pretty certain is unique, helpful, and/or will benefit your followers.
b.) Promote your work about a 1/5th of the time you promote the work of others. I would even say for every 1 item of your own, you should share 10-12 links to others’ work. (More on this later.)

If you follow these two rules you are ensuring that people realize that you are there to help them (and that is what they care about) and that you produce great work (because they are essentially getting a sample of what should be your best stuff).

If you have an upcoming event you can promote it on Twitter. You can do this by posting updates as the event grows near, announcing speakers of the event, and engaging others in content relevant to your event.

Let’s say I was one of the people in charge of the Princeton Sports Symposium. Here are some things I would definitely consider tweeting about:

a.) Announce the date, time and location of the event
b.) The keynote speaker and a link to a bio
c.) Announce a different topic to be discussed at the conference each day leading up to the conference with a link to a relevant discussion or blog post.
d.) Have a poll over twitter and give away a free ticket to one of the people that participates in the poll.
e.) Ask who is going to be in attendance and make plans to attend an after party, lunch the next day, meet up in the airport, etc.

These are just a couple of examples; be rest assured that I did not even scratch the surface as there are probably hundreds of other things you could do to promote an event using Twitter.

One of the most compelling things about people, companies and brands is the stories that we identify with, the stories that define a company and what it means to us as consumers. Twitter is a very humanizing tool in that it allows you to participate in the stories being told about your company. It makes your company more approachable and connected, and if you are using it correctly it can give you an authentic and transparent voice.

I could care less (and so will everyone else) if your PR team has a twitter account under your company’s name is shilling everything you do and produce. But if you are a real person and let us see into your company it becomes easier to identify with you and your company. By now, most of you know that Shaq is on Twitter. It is easy, if you are at all familiar with Shaq, to realize that it is really him. He’s incredibly authentic and funny; Twitter is providing a new way to connect with a mega superstar. Be unique and transparent and your story, your company immediately becomes more interesting.

I saved this one for last because it is the one that is most important to me, and the one that most people and companies mess up. In fact, I would not promote any of my own stuff until I had promoted the work of others, especially in the sports community. Why is this?

First and foremost you need to show your followers that you value what they want to read, and certainly sometimes this is your content, but it is ridiculous to think your content is always more valuable than the thousands and thousands of other blogs out there. Most of the time someone has already said it better than you ever could, in which case you should link to them.

Also, if our goal as sports marketers and networkers is to increase adoption of social media and web 2.0 in the sports industry we should be advocating this change and shift collectively as a whole. It means more business, more connections, more shared knowledge, more innovation, and so forth and so on for all of us within the sports world.

So I expressed in my last blog post that I had some cool things planned. I guess that’s debatable, but I do have some new, different things planned. I am a firm believer that bloggers should mix things up so that their content doesn’t get stale, and also experiment with different kinds of content. What’s your favorite topic covered on RSM ?

If you tell me it sucks or that it’s irrelevant or inapplicable then chances are it won’t be back, but in the meantime I’ll be starting another series of posts in edition to, “What’s in My Feed Reader?”

In an effort to serve some of my Gen Y readers that have been e-mailing various questions about obtaining jobs, switching jobs, and upgrading jobs (yes, even in our current economy) my new series will be entitled (until I think of a better name), “25 Ways to Get a New, Better, or Different Job.” I’ll try to add a new one periodically.

The goal of this series is to provide something actionable that anyone (not just Gen Y) can do that may directly or indirectly help you get a job. This series also enables me to integrate some shorter posts onto the blog, and possibly update a little more frequently.

So without further ado …

25 Ways to Get a New, Better, or Different Job – Read ‘Never Eat Alone’

A few key things from the book:

• Keith teaches you, through brilliant examples, how to establish the right mind set for networking
• He teaches you the right way to network (i.e. not to keep score, and how to not be a networking jerk that you often associate with networking).
• He explains why you should never eat alone, why sharing your passions are so important, and how to connect with other connectors.
• One of my favorite chapters, social arbitrage, might be the shortest but most important chapter in the entire book.
• He literally takes you through the mindset, to developing the skills to be successful at networking, and finally how to leverage those skills.

When friends ask me how to become a better at networking, I hand them the book. I have two copies, I keep the other within arm’s reach at all times (at least while I’m at my work station). You think I’m kidding, but I’m not.

Hopefully in the very near future I’ll also be able to point them to a particular blog post on this blog, but that’s enough foreshadowing for today.

Just the other day I read that in order to truly connect and form an authentic relationship with someone you need to reach out to people in at least three different methods, typically via email, the phone and a face-to-face meeting. [For the life of me I cannot recall where I read this, Keith’s Ferrazzi’s Never Eat Alone perhaps, so if it looks familiar point me in the right direction please.]

Anyway, I think there’s a lot of truth to this assumption. Once upon a time I was very hesitant to reach out to people online, aside from email and social networks. Now that I have completely immersed myself in the power of social media and what it is capable of in terms of collaboration and the exchange of ideas (what valuable currency), my philosophy has shifted.

A few months ago I wrote about the value of making connections, but I neglected to mention picking up the phone and calling someone. Certainly, you’re becoming more intelligent. You’re realizing that you have to build your network long before you ever need it. Or maybe you’re just like me and you want to be challenged and inspired by a rockstar.

Tonight I had the fortunate pleasure of connecting with Ryan Coleman. [I was introduced to Ryan after another great conversation I had previously with Jeff Widman.] Ryan and I talked about creativity, social media, collaboration, networking, and a number of other topics that really got my wheels spinning. In fact, I had outlined an article I was going to write about Apple’s need for a community evangelist (or at least a balance between complete secrecy and having a corporate liaison between HQ and consumers).

It’s possible you’ll see that article in the next day or so, but it is also very probable that you will not. I keep a journal with various ideas I have for blog posts, and after talking with Ryan for just shy of 45 minutes that list had almost doubled. Isn’t that what connecting with other passionate people is about? This is why people pay out the ass to go to seminars. It’s why some of the most influential people in the world go to TED conferences, and it is why I have started picking up the phone.

Think about how much information you can discuss and digest in a 45-minute phone conversation. How many days worth of emails would that take? How long would it take to read enough blogs in your google reader to garner that amount of information? Aside from that, you get to hear inflection, excitement, passion, hesitancy, confusion, and countless others. If you’re a skilled writer, chances are you can convey all these things in an email, but you can’t fake it on the phone.

Perhaps you’re intimidated, shy, nervous, or just think it will be awkward so you stick to email. I got news for you sometimes it is all of those things, but at least it is authentic. In my experience, I have been fortunate to have some really great chats and really connect with like-minded and passionate people. To me, that’s worth the risk of all the other… …every time.

Please help me continue the conversation. Do you reach out to other online marketers, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, businesswoman, et al ? Do you like connecting via the phone? What are some advantages and disadvantages? Share an experience. Tell me your stories. I’m listening. I promise!

So let’s face facts. Most people never learn how to properly network. Some get fortunate enough to learn in a solid program in a good school. Others might finally learn if they join a solid company, but the truth is that most people’s problems boils down to one primary issue.

Most people approach networking with the attitude of what’s in it for me.

Once upon a time I was one of those people. As my perspective gradually changed so did the number of valuable contacts I begin to acquire.

One summer in search of some extra spending money I started searching ways to make money online and I stumbled onto some popular GPT (Get Paid to Sites) like Cash Crate and Treasure Trooper. As I completed one incentive offer after another I determined that there was a lot more money to be had if I could obtain some referrals.

So what did I do? Well, I started networking, at least in my mind. I started going to every forum, yahoo answers, etc. and writing something like…

“OMG. U can make so much money. You will be rich forever, and attract hot people that will love you and wait on you hand and foot. I made $12 billion dollars yesterday in just 15 minutes. This program totally rocks hardcore!”

Okay. So I’m exaggerating a little bit, but you’ve all seen something similar. I even had people sign up, but they were people looking for that unattainable dream, and they didn’t last very long and I didn’t get much referral income. What I realized was that I needed people that just wanted an easy way to make a little bit extra spending money, while having a little bit of fun doing it.

So I started targeting people that had problems, and I offered them a solution. I watched forums, yahoo answers, and mylot for people genuinely looking to make a realistic amount of excess spending money. I told them the truth, and I told them that I would help them anyway I could. I begin collecting emails and sending out a weekly newsletter with offers that approved easily, were worth a lot, etc. I built blogs designed to help people with questions that I was frequently asked. And I started making some decent money without investing too much time. I was starting to learn the true value of networking.

Zig Ziglar once said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

This couldn’t be more true, and I was finally seeing the evidence to prove it:

I also found one of my favorite groups to work with: Work at Home Moms. They’re a tough group to break into, because they’re thick as thieves and definitely have each other’s backs. But once they trusted me to consistently provide them with something of substance and value, I built some phenomenal relationships with some very admirable women. Look at the success of companies like Mary Kay and Arbonne; I would venture that a large part of that has to do with WAHM’s.

As a result of those early experiences, I have some great online friends who I have gone on to participate in countless other ventures with, some more profitable than others, and all a lot of fun and made possible because I finally learned the proper way to network.

When networking, ALWAYS try to make it a relationship such that 1 + 1 = 3. Certainly you would appreciate something out of the relationship (and usually WANT something out of it), but first try and understand what you can do for the other person and how you can benefit them or their business and chances are the both of you will reap the benefits of the networking experience.

If you can’t find a way to benefit a person and/or company (or simply don’t have the time) asking them for advice is an acceptable alternative. Most people are flattered that you would ask their expertise and would be happy (provided they have the time) to help you out; just make certain that you thank them and work to continue building that relationship.

Sound off in the comments section. What are some issues that plague people you know when they’re trying to network? What are some successful strategies you have implemented in your networking pursuits?

It’s a relatively simple concept, but what does it entail and why don’t more people take the time to do it?

Making connections is an integral part of succeeding both with relationship marketing and with business in general. My Dad always told me that it is who you know and not what you know, and now I’m finally savvy enough to realize that the old adage is essentially true.

The shift in our society has become increasingly evident. Few people are finding jobs via traditional job-searching routes like newspaper job listings and executive recruiters. Submitting your resume online almost ensures that it gets stuck in a pile with countless others in the black-hole of job acquisition. The majority of people find their job through a personal contact.

You’ll be hard pressed to convince plenty of MBAs and other graduate students that grades don’t matter that much, but other than aspiring for another advanced degree, or perhaps that first job, it’s true.

I was THAT guy in undergrad with the obnoxious GPA, though I played a sport so that helped curtail that stereotype; however, now that I am in graduate school the courseload is significantly more intense and I often struggle to find time for my social life due to studying, projects, jobs, etc. Which do you think I do? A.) Make time to do some excessive studying, extra work, additional reading or B.) Go to happy hour, work on my business, learn from people who I aspire to be like when I finish school ?

The answer is that due to my ridiculous competitive nature, I am sometimes still guilty of A, but more times than not I try to make B take precedence in my life. Professors say they would rather you actually learn the material than just make good grades. I am finally doing that as I pull what I find valuable from lectures and apply it to my online business and real world settings, as opposed to merely scouring through notes all night in an effort to regurgitate exact phrases for exams.

More important, I have utilized the extra time to make some phenomenal connections with my peers. Many of them will undoubtedly be uber successful. I look forward to the day I can call one of them up and say, “Remember that ridiculous idea we had that night at Happy Hour about how to [insert idea here], well I actually found a way to make it come to fruition. Would you be interested in a possible joint venture opportunity?”

Do not be afraid to step outside your comfort realm either? If you’re a finance guy/gal, make an effort to meet some marketing people, an accountant, some management majors. Get to know different people in all disciplines, not just those within your field of study. Maybe you never pursue those fields, but wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to call on if an endeavor you were pursuing required knowledge in that discipline? Or better yet you needed one those people, their knowledge, their resources in building your own team and/or company?

Study a little less this week. Make an effort to meet a couple of new people (it could be as simple as commenting on this post), and make a genuine connection. You’ll be happy you did.

So I have had an influx in traffic the last couple of days due to all the discussion surrounding Seth Godin’s Summer Internship. I was not surprised to see other applicants utilizing social media and the Internet in an effort to get noticed. Afterall, Seth’s internship will invariably have a very competitive applicant pool as I suspect it is one of the most sought after marketing internships for college students in the country.

 A large chunk of the traffic I have been getting is coming from I Want To Work With Seth Godin, and more specifically this particular post, Seth Godin Internship Applicants. Take the opportunity to check out Richard’s blog because this guy “gets it.”

Having the opportunity to work with Seth Godin would be a phenomenal experience, there’s no doubt about that. What I am anxious to witness though, is how many of the applicants abandon their blogs, social media campaigns, etc. the minute they found out that they did not receive the internship.

The shortest post in Richard’s blog is perhaps the most profound.

We should aspire to be something much greater than Seth Godin’s intern this summer.

We should aspire to be the guy/girl who in 20 years time, and by the reputation alone, can inspire the world’s best young talent to run marketing campaigns just to learn from us.

Now that is truly a great career objective.

So what if I do not get Seth’s internship? That’s okay because it is about a whole lot more than that in my opinion. It is about the time I took to connect with Richard and the possibility of us working together on something in the future. It is about reaching out to other young marketers who are not settling for a a generic account manager position at a boring firm that is unwilling to take risks. It is about expanding your network and sharing your passions with like-minded individuals.

Regardless of whether or not I get the internship, I am going to take advantage of the additional traffic I have received since I started my mini-campaign, and use it to meet new people that are passionate about marketing and cultivating new and intriguing ideas that have the potential to alter the pendulum of momentum in marketing, to unabashedly flip the script on current marketing viewpoints.

Expanding your network with people that share your passions transforms the work you do from tedious and mundane to more of a contagious and indirect repercussion of the way you operate and live your life.

What do you do when you get a business card from someone?

If you are like most people you probably put it in some type of index card box, or shove it into a paper clip with others and put it in a desk drawer.

Well today at a marketing conference (and I’ll give credit where it’s due), Brent Allen, a Product Brand Manager for Hewlett-Packard, was speaking and he discussed what he did with business cards and I thought it was something worth sharing.

First of all, let it be known, that I do utilize the business cards I acquire to make contact and to start trying to build a rapport with people that I might learn something from, or even possibly work for in the future. BUT, I hadn’t thought of Brent’s specific tip.

He said that after talking with someone and making that initial connection he would immediately go off to a quiet place with their business card in hand. He would write notes on the back of the business card and that way when he e-mailed them a thank you a few days later he could mention something they talked about — even if he didn’t necessarily remember w/o the aid of the business card.

When you think about it, as a college marketer, (or ANY marketer), this is a great tool to utilize because then you can begin a dialogue with that business person and essentially strengthen your network – while making a connection that is not as generic as a simple ‘thank you.’

Think about it and start implementing this helpful tip when you are networking!