How to Actively Use Your Network

Now You’ve got a great network. How do you use it? Have a plan. We have this tendency as human beings of wanting to go forward. I’m here. I want to do the next thing. And my business is this big. I want it to be that big, but we don’t think of what the end in mind is and what the best way to get there. Define success for yourself also because success might not be the size of your business. It might be the amount of leisure time you have. It could be all kinds of things. So first of all, have a plan and know where you’re going and have sort of a basic outline of how the next year is going to look. For my life, one of my goals is to have my daughter enrolled in university. It’s just one of my goals. It’s my goal. And then I start to think about, okay, what do I need to do to have that happen? Then when you go to people, you’ll know what is in it for them and what’s in it for you. And it’s be specific sometimes it’s just really hard to help somebody because they don’t know what they want. I’m working on a project with somebody right now and I won’t name the project or anything, but this person always has ideas. She has so many ideas. She just has ideas, ideas, ideas. And I’ve been trying to sit down every day and be like, okay, let’s write this down. What’s going to happen in April what’s gonna happen in May. What’s going to happen in June. Once we know that, then she can use her talents in those areas. And I can use my talents and these areas and our third partner can use his downs and those areas, so know where you’re going. And approximately when things are gonna happen and have a specific request, I’d like you to give me a recommendation on a week, LinkedIn, that’s just a specific request. And then people say yes or no, don’t be vague. So that’s the first thing. Make it accomplishable.

The other thing is, there’s this weird thing that happens in life, which is that the more impossible the request is, the more difficult it is. The more likely people will say yes, but the more ridiculous it is like, Hey, I have this great idea. I’m going to re-fix the educational system in our, you know, in our entire country. Would you like to get involved? People are more likely to say that then would you sign this little petition? I don’t know why, but big visions and big ideas, enrol people, but also always have the next step. I’ve had a lot of people do projects like that. Have [Has] the meeting set up, be like, do you want to change the entire educational system? Yes. Good. There’s a meeting Thursday. So have an action. Be really clear. And then the other thing, and there’s a question that people don’t want to ask, but why you said yes to me. I mean, first of all, when they say, yes, you just go like, great, see you Thursday and go away. But once they’re actually on the team, you want to know why? I made this comic book for kids and one of my best friends was involved in it, but a couple of different friends. And I said, why are you involved in it? And one of them said, I really have always wanted to write comic books. And I think if I hadn’t become a priest, then I would have written comic books. It’s [a] pretty funny thing to say, but that was how he did it. The other person was like, listen, I love to see things finished. I love to see the physical product of what I did. And so I knew that I had to get the comic books printed, not just online because he wanted to touch it. And so just know what, you know, what, why are you, why did you volunteer for this thing? What’s important to you? And if somebody says, yes, I’ll be your mentor. Ask the same thing. Be like, why, what would be rewarding to you as my mentor? And that way you, you can always make sure people are happy on your team. Cause people do things for different reasons. If they say, I like you you’re in trouble by the way, because it means they’re not committed to the project. But sometimes if you really are an industry leader, so I’ve gotten to like the point in certain industries where people do things. Cause I’m doing them because they know if I’m doing them, it’s going to be cool. Cause they’ve been to my other things. That’s different than I like you. It’s like, Oh, last time you did something. It was cool. I’m going to do the thing with you now. Cause it’s going to be cool. That’s okay. But if they’re just doing it, cause they like you you’re in trouble. They’re not going to be committed to the project.