Funny Business

If you ask 10 people what network marketing is about, probably 11 of them would tell you "Sales."

But I don't believe it's about sales at all, I believe it's about listening. Listening to what people say - and to what they mean - and then showing them how I can help.

So who are the best listeners in the world? Besides therapists and maybe bartenders, I think it's comedians. Especially comedians who specialize in stand-up or improv.

Stand-ups have to be engaging; they have to know how to "read" their audience. Improvisers have to be able to go with the flow, building on what the other person in the conversation gives them. These are all golden skills for networkers. And, yes, they're skills anyone can learn. But with comedians, they're standard equipment.

So I'm on the lookout for comics. And I'm currently talking to two of them: One I met at an audition - he was my partner in an improv scene and we made the auditioners laugh, a lot. And another whose business card I found on the bulletin board in a sandwich shop 250 miles from where he lives. It was pinned up alongside cards from a motley collection of Realtors, tutors, and a woman who'll assemble your scrapbook for you. (I'll be calling all of those folks, too - and some of them may even make themselves - and me - some money, but I don't expect any of them to make me laugh.)