The Unspoken Rule: Ask for Opportunities

things. You have to ask for it yourself. Nobody's going to just come in and say, "Hey, you stranger. Here's a cool opportunity to avoid all that crap you don't want to do and still get results." You have to be creative and look for it yourself. And one thing I realized very early on: it's not always what you know that matters, but who you know. I figured it out because when I was making mini sticks and I was knowledgeable about all the hockey equipment, I knew all the types of hockey tape, all the stick models, all the codes and what they meant. I wanted to work on the Penguins' equipment team. Because I saw guys working there. They carried clubs and stuff . I thought, "They look my age. " "I want to work there too." So I started asking around, talking, you know, to the security guard who works in the tunnel and all that. It turned out that the people who worked there had parents who either played for the Penguins or were in management or something. They had nothing to do with it. And I was just stunned , like, what the hell? I know much more about it than any of them. And they got it, it's just ridiculous. So from then on, I realized that acquaintances are extremely important in such matters. And yet, no one refuses