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So you've attended college for over six years and you now have your MBA (Masters in Business and Administration) with a concentration in Management. You're fresh, energized, and ready to run a business. However, there are three things all of your college professors didn't to tell you about running a business. Such as learning how to get along with other people, building rapport with colleagues, and techniques to form strategic alliances with other businesses professionals.

We all know that it's important to get along with people we know and work with. Past President, Theodore Roosevelt once said, "The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." One of our greatest Presidents said this, yet so many people don't know how and don't care about getting along with other people. While you were attending High School I'm sure you remember all the drama of the students. It seemed like no one could get along with anybody. This same attitude carries over into the business environment, except now it has a negative affect on you and your business. To be honest it's difficult to be nice to someone who is always grouchy, puts you down, and makes you feel worthless. It takes a lot of effort to find a way to get along with difficult people. I've heard several people say, "You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all of the time." It takes a very secure and patient person to get along with everyone. Once you've learned how to get along with difficult people, you can now focus on building rapport with important colleagues and business partners.

Building rapport can be a complex process because it involves many factors we don't realize. In Tony Robbins book, Unlimited Power he defines rapport as, "The ability to enter someone else's world, to make him feel that you understand him, that you have a strong common bond." Tony also talks about the three types of people and how they interact with others; kinesthetic, auditory, and visual. Kinesthetic people talk very slow, are calm, and choose their words carefully. Auditory people talk a little faster, and say things like, "Sounds good to me." Visual people usually talk fast, don't worry about their words too much, and use analogies and metaphors to describe people and events. My own personal experience with learning to build rapport with people has been difficult. I was always a person who used my ears and mouth proportionately. The

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