Surrounded by my family for the past week, I have witnessed their immediate acceptance to my husband because of one thing… he made people feel important. People love to share their accomplishments, praise their passions, and most importantly, have someone take note of them.

Success in any avenue of life can come this way. Network with these people. My uncle Bill is obsessed with sailing; my husband asked him about sailing. My aunt Jan is paranoid about property issues around her land; we own land next to her—my husband talked about that. On and on until my husband had conversations with gobs of my family on topics he probably didn’t even care about. Sure they didn’t learn much about him at all. Yet the way into a person’s heart isn’t to boast about yourself. If you want to get with the big guys, talk about what the big guys love to talk about. The big guys in my family seem to love my husband!

Bottom line: make people feel important.