Where Are The Better Birds Feeding...I mean Networking?

I learned something about birds.

The more bird seed you put out the more birds you attract. You get all kinds of birds; the pretty ones and the ugly ones. They come with regularity and they squawk and chirp as they battle to get their fair share of seed as you sprinkle it around your yard. They hang around and wait for you to put the seed out and they consume it with measured precision until it is all gone. This pattern continues for the first couple of weeks and then something changes.

Something quite remarkable happens....

The volume of birds drops off. You can literally put out the same amount of seed out and the pretty birds who weeks before were fighting to get their fair share against the ugly birds don't seem as interested. The ugly birds still show up with regularity and eat the seed off the ground until their bellies are full but they no longer have to do battle with the blue jays, the cardinals and the rest of the pretty birds. Seemingly overnight, the pretty birds have gone elsewhere.

Why?

Surely they are still hungry right? It isn't like they don't need to still eat right?

The pretty birds come in and feed but they don't do it with the same intensity. They seem to have grown accustomed to the fact that the bird seed will be there; it will be there this morning, this afternoon, tomorrow or next week. It is readily available so they don't need to worry about it being there when you first put it out. Why fight with the grackles and mean birds when they can simply wait and feed when they want to; likely when you aren't looking. Or worse they simply go somewhere else where there is less hassle.

Well if you enjoy watching birds like I do this pattern is a bummer. You miss out on seeing the pretty birds because they are putting their time in somewhere else and all you are left with is the ugly birds. And lots of them.

How do you solve this? Simple; put out less seed. Find the better seed that attracts the best looking birds and put that out. Change the feed pattern. Don't just throw the seed on the ground where the crap birds tend to hang out but put it high up in feeders. Make em work for it. Watch what happens.

Scarcity is a marvelous thing. Put the right seed out and in limited quantity and the pretty birds reappear and will battle, I mean battle to earn all the seed. The ugly birds are lazy and go for the quick and easy and don't seem to like this aggressive new approach of the pretty birds. The ugly birds don't want to have to work for it so they won't. They hate the hassle! Problem solved. Pretty birds regain control and the lazy ugly birds looking for the free easy meal move out.

Networking is sort of the same way. How many events do you go to that you see the same people over and over? In Austin there is literally so many networking events that you could literally eat and drink you way through the week, every week. Problem is that the ugly birds ummmm I mean power networkers know this and they are there with plates in hand and mouths open picking and pecking their way from connection to connection and from event to event.

The results....the pretty birds....ummmm I mean the quality connections....don't spend their time swooping in...I mean attending these events. They spend their time somewhere else. Why do battle aka spend time with the crackles of the networking world when they could be spending and investing their time somewhere else.

Your challenge is to find out where the better seed is. Find out who is changing the game by charging more for their events to attract the right kind of birds...I mean people. Find out who is booking the better venues...holding the better formats....creating more opportunities to for the pretty birds...I mean better connections....to hang out and feed without having to battle.

Make sense?

Ripple On!!!

Steve