Why Leveraging of Networks is Important to Financial Success?
“It’s not what you know but who you know that makes the difference” –Anonymous
A key contact can ‘make it happen’. If you know the right person, things happen. The key contact is crucial to your success. He is the leverage that will work wonders for you. The value of a large network is that the chances of finding the right contact increase exponentially.
To succeed, you need the power of a large network. There are people who control and use the power of leverage of network. You have to know who these people are in order to gain access to their networks. For example, if you are marketing a product, it is far easier to find one contact who controls a large network and market your product through him rather than selling your product independently to thousands of unconnected buyers.
Building Networks
The trick is to know either how to build a network or have some access to people who control networks. Understanding the power of networking is a very important leveraging tool.
If you wish to create wealth fast, then you have to master the art of networking. By forming a network of nurtured relationships you get support, information, referrals, advice and access to resources.
It is your contacts who make you rich. If you know the industry leaders, you receive important information before anyone else—if you know the bankers, you get access to finance…if you are friends with your boss, you get promoted. The list is endless.
Cavett Robert, the dean of American speakers, rightly put it: “you have to make contacts to get contracts”. Your net worth will be equal to the size of your network.
How to Develop Meaningful Relationships
You don’t create a network by simply capturing names, telephone numbers and email addresses into your address book or database; you create a network by building a meaningful relationship over a period of time with the people who can trust you. The way to do this is to help everyone within your sphere of influence to the best of your ability. If you go an extra mile, you will put the Universe in your debt that will be repaid to you a hundred times over.
The best relationships are formed when you participate in someone’s growth with the attitude of making them strong and independent. If you help people with the aim of getting something in return, to make them dependent on you financially or emotionally, then that relationship will not last for long. A plant can never grow under the shadow of a big tree.
You have to give something away for free that is of value to your network, to build relationships. This act of giving will foster trust and bring attention to you. Do not expect reciprocity in return or the value of your gift is lost.
The return you get for your free gift is trust and recognition. This will result in strengthening the foundation of your network and give it the longevity it needs.
The golden rule of networking is:
“Be very quick to build connections and extremely slow to break them” –Robert G Allen
Your network will collapse if more people are leaving it as compared to those who are joining. To sustain your network, you have to keep adding value.
Social Media Leveraging
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn are the latest technological breakthroughs that are changing the way we do businesses and leverage ourselves. Viral marketing has taken up a new connotation due to the leverage provided by social media.
Unknown talents are discovered each day and made famous by the power of these viral information sharing platforms. These platforms are creating instant millionaires of those who know how to harness this new technological wave.
To apply maximum leverage, you have to use and market technologies that are most efficient and cutting edge. Social media can help you build very large networks with relative ease.
