Are you a college student in your third year?
Are you graduating from college in a few weeks?
Are you trying to start your own side business?
Are you working your way up the corporate ladder?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, I just have one followup question for you: who are you connecting with?
The cool thing about most goals in life is that there are many others that have done it before us. It doesn’t matter what your goal or plan is. If you plan on paying off your debt, losing your extra weight, starting a new business, or breaking up with your girlfriend, there are people out there that have done it. There are people that did it well. There are also people that failed at it. Both can help you out. Successful business owners, grad school graduates, and wealthy people are all around us.
What’s the point of spending so much time on networking and connecting with others in the first place? Pamela Slim put it best as it relates to networking with others:
What I have found is that when you have the right group of people around you, you will assume less risk with more rewards, grow faster, make fewer stupid mistakes and have a lot more fun.
I couldn’t say it any better. I also wanted to take a moment to mention a few things I learned about connecting with others:
Always offer something first.
Networking works both ways. You may not always have something to offer someone, and the people you meet won’t always have something to offer you. It’s not about keeping score. However, it’s important that you listen to others and see if you can offer them something first before you start begging for favors. Sometimes all you need to offer is a little bit of your time to help someone else out greatly.
Never brush anyone off.
You never know who can help you out. A failed business owner has a lot of insights that they can offer you. It’s never a good idea to undermine others. You never know who can help you get to where you want to go.
Always over-deliver.
There’s just something special about giving people more than they expected. If you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right. I would rather exceed expectations than barely meet them.
With all of this talk about connecting, who am I connecting with?
- My readers.
- Friends from college.
- My blogging colleagues.
- Co-workers.
- Friends at the gym.
- Family members
- Other alumni from my school.
How has connecting with others benefited you? How have you helped others through connecting with them?
I'm a 24 year old dude that studied finance in school and now wants to make it fun. Over the past three years I've been helping readers like YOU make more money and keep more cash in your pocket. I've appeared live on Fox Business News and I've been mentioned in the NY Times. You can also learn more about
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If you read the famous “tipping point” by Malcolm Galdwell he talks about different types of people that are important for the spread of information. One to these archetypes is the ‘connector.’ I have found that these people are often the key to expanding your networks rapidly.
I am a pretty outgoing person who has many different passions and hobbies, so my networking happens pretty authentically; however, if you are will be looking for work or need extensive networks for other reasons over the next for years make sure not to lose contact with these ‘connector’ types. They are often the ones who setup the meet-and-greets that lead to bigger and better things.