I know a 4o year old woman with a perfect six pack and 17% body fat which, she assures me, is extremely low for a female! Do you know how she achieved such perfection?Are you ready for the big clue? She busts her ass at the gym four times a week to hone and maintain that perfect body, and makes sure that she only eats quality food. Ah, I can hear the sigh of disappointment already! You probably thought I was going to give you some quick fix answer, a short cut to bodily perfection. Isn’t that what the advertisers promise all the time? Ever seen those electric ‘butt wobble’ machines? You stand still, the machine does its stuff and, hey presto, you have a godlike figure in a matter of weeks! Bullshit! If it were that easy the whole world would be buying them. I hate to disappoint you but there are few shortcuts in life and you get out what you put in. Recently I blogged about my trip to London, how I descended on the capital with little more than inspiration, to open up new markets. It’s amazing how lack of friends in a new locality, and the absence of all things familiar, focusses the mind. The first week was hard, very hard, understanding how to work Linked In, discovering networking events to attend, and so on.I finally opted for an event at Club Bond in Oxford Circus and found myself in the middle of a luxury and lifestyle event! Pretty random, I’d agree, but in the absence of anything else it seemed like a good start. And, like the six pack lady, I bust my ass working that room for two hours and trawled in the region of 20-30 business cards. Then the work began. People seem to think it’s enough to get a business card. It isn’t. You don’t really know those people so, somehow, you have to find a way of remembering them. I kept nipping to a corner and scribbling comments on the cards I’d been given, jotting down reminder points…….the tall slim lady with the Russian accent, the man with the pony tail etc. Where people didn’t have a card I gave them one of mine to write on. Then over the next couple of days I systematically, and methodically, inputted all the information into my database, before emailing or ringing each person; every email was bespoke, no cut and paste.The result? Four new business appointments. The process was exhausting but there is a great sense of achievement when you get a positive outcome. Bit like the lady’s six pack really. In life you only get out what you put in and networking is no different. Take the short cut and the result is rarely as good as the route that requires hard work.