Networking with Ivan Barnett at Serious Play

“It’s not just what you know but who you know.” “and it’s also and both.” Ivan Barnett (a hybrid quote), John Rockefeller

My five-decade long career is and has been a series of “one conversation at a time.” I feel compelled to connect the right dots, and to remember the days when word-of-mouth mattered in networking.  Well, it still does.  My three Rolodexes, are full of my community.  Networking is its own art form. One never knows when someone with that unique skill may be important for you to know.

Do unto others is my ground zero principle when it comes to networking. At Serious Play, I utilize my decades long career in the arts to help my clients.  Networking my contacts in the world of art and business is the reason Patina was able to shine when it opened. The key ingredients were the artists themselves. It just so happens I knew 80 percent of them from my craft/trade show days.  Knowing “who to call” can be the difference between good and great. And great is the only way I work at Serious Play.

Reputation as networking

Here at Serious Play I take my reputation with the utmost pride.  I know how to care for people and so in turn they know how to care for me.  Each time I launched a a new collaboration in the gallery, days before usually, a new name was added to my Rolodex.

Serious Play has a decades old networking and sacred circle of “trusted advisors”–in an array of areas– legal- publishing-framing-photography- business acumen-editorial- and most importantly, colleagues in “the business.”  The principle of an outer circle is that at any given time, when a problem needs to be solved, I know who to call.  This is not a new concept, but one that is deeply key to all great businesses.  You could say I have mastered the “art of the relationship.”