Don’t be surprised to find Robert W. Scharar sewing buttons on his jacket. A boy scout since 1958 and now a board member of the Sam Houston Council, he has skills to show for his merit badges.
Scharar also credits the scouts with business networking. As founder, president and CEO of FCA Corp., a wealth management, financial planning and investment advisory firm with more than $500 million in assets, he researches potential investments. His involvement in community organizations forms connections to inform decisions.
“It’s important for businesses to participate in volunteer activities,” says Scharar, who also created four international mutual funds with assets of more than $50 million. “That’s a good way to expand your business knowledge and do something good at the same time.”
Start conversations. Just a smile and a hello and an interest will often spark a discussion. Ask about what they’re doing or ask about their country. We all like to talk about ourselves, so give a person a chance to talk about their country or their family or their job or their interests, and the conversation will unfold. It’s not always just one conversation, but it’s the continued friendliness that evolves from that.
In my BlackBerry, I write down the names of the people I meet at the counter at the airport. I can’t remember all those names, but you have no idea how helpful [it is].
Stay open to info. We’re always looking for ideas to invest in: trends of growth, trends of success, positive things that would make an investment worthwhile. Sometimes, it’s just coming up with the idea of the industry to be looking at. It may not be that particular company’s even available for sale; it just may mean that you get an idea that you had not pursued before.
Oftentimes, it’s not so much because I’m looking at their company, but I’m looking for somebody that has some technical knowledge that can explain some product I’m not familiar with.
When you open yourself to deal with people beyond your normal circles, you get great information. You can often learn a lot about the community by being willing to talk to people. Cab drivers often form that nucleus for a lot of people because they’re the only contact they have, but there’s a lot of contacts you can make if you’re willing to just reach out and look for areas of common interest.
Don’t make assumptions of people’s worth. Oftentimes, we get too hung up on titles and because of that, we don’t necessarily give people a chance to show what they can do. If you’re able to step back and recognize that people have value, you’d be shocked at what you can find out.
Keep lines open. Seeking information about what’s going on in the world that might apply to your business is generally not invasive. You can do that without people thinking you’re selling them something — because you’re really not.
Now, out of that can come opportunities because people say, ‘What do you do?’ I don’t necessarily even at that stage give them (my) card. But if it might be helpful, I’ll sometimes say, ‘I do work in that area. If sometime in the future you want to talk about it, feel free to give me a call.’
Don’t put them under any pressure, but you don’t want to be in a situation where you can solve their need and you’re not giving them the ability to work with you. You just have to be careful how you do it. We all are taken aback when somebody comes in and you feel like, if they don’t have a sale closed at the end of (30 minutes), they’re going to go on to the next activity.
Volunteerism … can lead to opportunities. If you try to go volunteer specifically to get X, that’s not going to work. But put yourself in an environment where the volunteer activities involve other people — particularly different people, not everybody who thinks the same way you do — and you just never know.
Just put yourself out there. I don’t go around handing my business cards to everybody I meet, but just let people know you’re open to questions. You’re rewarded in many ways for doing that — not always immediately, never from a particular activity — but by being engaged, you’d just be amazed at the kinds of things that evolve.
In my BlackBerry, I write down the names of the people I meet at the counter at the airport. I can’t remember all those names, but you have no idea how helpful [it is].
Stay open to info. We’re always looking for ideas to invest in: trends of growth, trends of success, positive things that would make an investment worthwhile. Sometimes, it’s just coming up with the idea of the industry to be looking at. It may not be that particular company’s even available for sale; it just may mean that you get an idea that you had not pursued before.
Oftentimes, it’s not so much because I’m looking at their company, but I’m looking for somebody that has some technical knowledge that can explain some product I’m not familiar with.
When you open yourself to deal with people beyond your normal circles, you get great information. You can often learn a lot about the community by being willing to talk to people. Cab drivers often form that nucleus for a lot of people because they’re the only contact they have, but there’s a lot of contacts you can make if you’re willing to just reach out and look for areas of common interest.
Don’t make assumptions of people’s worth. Oftentimes, we get too hung up on titles and because of that, we don’t necessarily give people a chance to show what they can do. If you’re able to step back and recognize that people have value, you’d be shocked at what you can find out.
Keep lines open. Seeking information about what’s going on in the world that might apply to your business is generally not invasive. You can do that without people thinking you’re selling them something — because you’re really not.
Now, out of that can come opportunities because people say, ‘What do you do?’ I don’t necessarily even at that stage give them (my) card. But if it might be helpful, I’ll sometimes say, ‘I do work in that area. If sometime in the future you want to talk about it, feel free to give me a call.’
Don’t put them under any pressure, but you don’t want to be in a situation where you can solve their need and you’re not giving them the ability to work with you. You just have to be careful how you do it. We all are taken aback when somebody comes in and you feel like, if they don’t have a sale closed at the end of (30 minutes), they’re going to go on to the next activity.
Volunteerism … can lead to opportunities. If you try to go volunteer specifically to get X, that’s not going to work. But put yourself in an environment where the volunteer activities involve other people — particularly different people, not everybody who thinks the same way you do — and you just never know.
Just put yourself out there. I don’t go around handing my business cards to everybody I meet, but just let people know you’re open to questions. You’re rewarded in many ways for doing that — not always immediately, never from a particular activity — but by being engaged, you’d just be amazed at the kinds of things that evolve.
How to reach: FCA Corp., (713) 781-2856 or www.fcacorp.com
