134: Networking – Friday Fundamentals

Education and relationships. These are the two key components to success are education and relationships. Education is important, for many obvious and some not-so-obvious reasons. Ultimately education is making an investment in yourself, which is the best investment you can make. It has an infinite ROI. “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn So how do you go about building your circle of influence? It can be especially hard to find people who are on the same path as you. Today, I’m going to show you 3 ways in which you can surround yourself with like minded people and grow your network. Conferences. I can’t think of a better way to meet new people in your niche. Conferences draw people from all over the place who share a common interest. Most conferences incorporate both education and networking (remember, the two key components to success we mentioned earlier). Conferences typically cost money to attend, so this ensures that people who are there really want to be there. You’ll find conferences for all sorts of things – from real estate investing to comic book conventions (comic-con). Meet Ups. Meet ups are similar to conferences, but they are more local and smaller scale. Meet ups are a small group of people who meet up to network, learn,  participate in a shared activity. Meetup.com has made it easy to find or create a local group. Whereas conferences might be an annual event, meetups, are more frequent, which allow you to build more intimate relationships. The third way I recommend to create relationships and network, is one you might not hear every where. Create content. Yes, create content, whether that’s a social media presence, blog, podcast, youtube channel, etc. If you want to grow your network, then getting your name out there and building a reputation in whatever space you’re in will draw those contacts to you. Building a network takes time. It’s something you constantly have to work on. Relationships you build will turn into other new relationships. Don’t take a lackadasial approach to building relationships and networking. You can’t expect to grow your network and meet new people by doing the same old thing you are. Remember, you net worth is determined by your network.