I have been wondering why it is recently that I invest so much time in networking and trying to reach others via my blog.
I have been reading Duncan Bannatyne’s book “Wake Up And Change Your Life”. In there he quotes the six degrees of seperation that we are each only 6 steps removed from from anyone on the planet.
That is quite something to think about. At first I thought it can’t be right but the more I considered it the more feasible it became. I, for instance, know around 1,000 people. These people come from all walks of life and quite a few parts of the globe. Is it such a stretch to imagine that if each of those people I know, also have around 1,000 people they know and so on.
What’s the point of this? well, it means that as business owners, we are literally just a few phone calls away from anyone we need to help our business. For example, if I were so inclined, I could ring David Taylor, our local MP who I used to drink with at the local Pub, and I have a hotline into Parliament – with one phone call. Just imagine the possibilities… not with Parliment (that’s a whole different story!) but with networking generally.
Most business people are members of one on-line forum or another and who can say what other people the few contacts they make on such a forum know slightly, or even very well!
It is these thoughts that keep me interested in networking. All that is needed is for people tp stop expecting immediate work from making a few contacts on a forum, but instead invest time and effort in showing other people on the forum how committed they are to helping others. The day will come, when someone who has followed some threads on a forum may be inspired to contact you because of the way you always act, answer questions, generally care about other folk there with some concrete work you would never have been considered for otherwise.
That’s why I do it. I love to help out when people reach out with questions, just the same as I appreciate sensible, considered responses when I have need of something.
So keep networking, both on-line and off. You just never know when that special contact will show up – but they will, and the more you participate, the more it will happen.
~Ray