Your network is your net worth (and tools to amplify)

One of my core personal and professional life principles is that “you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

People are herd animals; therefore social acceptance and community engagement is integral.

If you stick around with your high school buddies drinking beers in the evening and just venting against politics and circumstances, that won’t get you far.

Surround yourself with the right people

To elevate and move to a better place, you must surround yourself with the right people. This would strengthen your motivation (which I’ve covered in a detailed motivation guide previously.) Here’s a sneak peek of the key components:

So - improving life quality means surrounding yourself with the right people.

The proof is in the pudding - every famous actor, singer, politician, and entrepreneur is surrounded by other high-net-worth individuals. They do business together, travel together, hit golf courts and country clubs together. This is the herd dynamic you have to adapt to.

How to get better at networking?

There are plenty of ways to surround yourself with motivated individuals.

1. Finding masterminds at a higher level with conversations above your pay grade

2. Joining business and startup communities (on Slack, Facebook groups, Discord, certain online courses providing these)

3. Following more esteemed individuals helping others (mentors, business coaches, creators who educate)

4. Deleting TikTok and swapping your Instagram feed for business entrepreneurs, macro news, top Forbes content creators, and active “doers” who walk the talk

5. Attending local startup and business conferences, meetups and dinners

6. Engaging online and building that circle by doing

Here’s a random list of 400+ Slack communities for startups.

Networking is more giving and delayed getting

Gary Vee, Alex Hormozi, and many other veteran entrepreneur are preaching the following networking framework:

Give, Give, Give - Get.

The reason cold outreach such so bad is precisely the endless flow of requests and service pitches and asks for calls without conveying any value. Instant gratification is a sure way to avoid long-term success.

So the best principle to build a strong network is staying patient, interacting, helping out as possible, building strong bonds… and cashing in a favor every now and then.

When networking with the right people, even a single “get” or two can secure your entire year ahead. The right intro or the right contract endorsed can go a very, very long way.

Creating, Building, and Tools

The last bit of the puzzle is being of help to more successful people.

If your skills are in demand and there aren’t any providers in that close circle, you’re in the so-called “blue ocean” territory. You’re the definitive expert and can become the go-to person for given tasks.

In most cases - especially events and larger groups - other people will be in the same position, and you’ll need to divide and conquer - or you have to niche down.

In any case, building (startups, tools) and creating (personal branding, writing) are great ways to establish expertise and provide more solutions to problems, faster.

And given the digital nature of amplification, this would tap into the right people outside of your usual circle - a.k.a. social media, SEO, email marketing.

One great tool for managing your LinkedIn network is Dex. I use this to keep track of any title and job changes in my personal network - a great way to touch base and start a conversation with people to keep myself on their radar. I can even add weekly or monthly reminders to get back to them.

Taplio is another LinkedIn tool I use to schedule LinkedIn content, monitor what works, and keep track of people engaging with my copy:

This is a strong signal and a great conversation starter you can use to amplify.

On Twitter, the best way to move forward is starting a List and adding relevant and active creators there. Monitor this list more frequently, engage with authored content, read comments, reply there, and add commenters to your list when it makes sense.

Building a network of other creators by providing additional value will grow your network accordingly. And later, you can start a collaborative project together - a podcast, blog, live event, co-authoring a book, virtual event, serving customers together.

Bonus point - when engaging with influential comments, your content also gets elevated reach (more people see your comments in the feed and may check your profile.)

Bottom line - if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to get far, bring friends (paraphrasing a famous saying)

So the first rule of business is - surround yourself with great life examples and elevate your circle. Engage and support efforts and you’ll grow together.

Mario