Ambitious men spend their youth in rendering themselves worthy of patronage; it is their great mistake. While the foolish creatures are laying in stores of knowledge and energy, so that they shall not sink under the weight of responsible posts that recede from them, schemers come and go who are wealthy in words and destitute of ideas, astonish the ignorant, and creep into the confidence of those who have a little knowledge.
Many, if not most, career opportunities come to you through people you know. So the more people you know, the more opportunities you have. Improving your social network is a great example of a system for moving from lower odds to better odds without having a specific goal.
Make a list of 200 prestigious, influential, and powerful people with whom you want to work, play, grow and do business.
My advice for folks on networking is give, give, give. You will later receive. But you are really planting these seeds. Some of them will die, and they won't become anything. Many of them will take many, many years before they pay off for you if at all.
It can be easy to become 'friends' or 'connected' with someone in a digital world, but it requires thought and strategy to convert social media connections into rewarding business relationships.
Networking is all about connecting with people. But then again, isn't that what life is about? The more time you can find to get out of the office and build true friendships, the farther your startup will go. Entrepreneurs need to remember to spend as much time working on their business as they do in their business.
Usually, if you're going to be a manager, you always want to talk about football and be a connoisseur of the game.
I was networking every day from 21 to 28 years old. I sent 10 letters a day, which means I reached out to 3,000 people in a year.
A key component of social media is 'following' - and no one is there to see what you have to say on Instagram or Twitter if they aren't motivated to follow you.
Every relationship should eventually become a long-term relationship. Any director that I meet now isn't just a director. He's potentially a friend, and someone I can call to do a project that I want or that I have. That's what I mean when I say branding and developing yourself, as a business.
If there's someone that I just wan to work with in the future, I set a general meeting and I say, "I'm a really big fan. I want to meet you. I'd love to collaborate with you someday and hopefully you'll remember that for the next time you have something that I could be right for."
One of the most powerful networking practices is to provide immediate value to a new connection. This means the moment you identify a way to help someone, take action.
Networking, of course, is great, but the best way to network is to do work.
There's a way to do networking that isn't overly brown-nosing.
In all societies, it is advisable to associate if possible with the highest; not that the highest are always the best, but because, if disgusted there, we can descend at any time; but if we begin with the lowest, to ascend is impossible.
When it comes to building your business and developing a powerful network, you'll want to develop a reputation as someone who highlights others. Not only does this give credit where credit is due, it also communicates that you're secure with your success and have the ability to promote others in your industry.
I put myself in front of people who can say yes to me, and I deliver value first.
To nurture the sort of relationships that will truly help propel you towards accomplishing great things, you need to forget transactional networking and focus on having in-depth conversations with fewer people about subjects you really care about.
