Network to Success
Posted on Monday, May 28, 2007 At
7:19 AM
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know and who they know, too.
In this chapter:
People are always the route to success. If you want more opportunities to come your way, the only way to get them is by meeting more people and seeking those opportunities out. For example, many jobs are never advertised – they are filled by word-of-mouth referrals.
If you want to work for yourself, you will need to build up a portfolio of customers and clients. Or you might need to know a range of suppliers to get the right services or products you need at the right price.
Which means that you will need to network. But there really is nothing sinister about it. There are no old school ties involved and you don’t have to fawn or be at all insincere to people you don’t like.
Networking is simply about increasing the number of people you meet, and looking
for mutual gain with those people.
Metcalfe’s Law states that the value of a network equals the number of users squared. Applying this law, a network that is twice as large will be four times as valuable.
In this chapter:
People are always the route to success. If you want more opportunities to come your way, the only way to get them is by meeting more people and seeking those opportunities out. For example, many jobs are never advertised – they are filled by word-of-mouth referrals.
If you want to work for yourself, you will need to build up a portfolio of customers and clients. Or you might need to know a range of suppliers to get the right services or products you need at the right price.
Which means that you will need to network. But there really is nothing sinister about it. There are no old school ties involved and you don’t have to fawn or be at all insincere to people you don’t like.
Networking is simply about increasing the number of people you meet, and looking
for mutual gain with those people.
Metcalfe’s Law states that the value of a network equals the number of users squared. Applying this law, a network that is twice as large will be four times as valuable.