“What?” you ask, “I thought building a network was about ME, others hiring ME, referring ME to their friends, helping ME and talking about ME.” Honestly, with that attitude, you’re on your way of building a network that’s gonna to be pretty small and pretty weak. Case in point: Many years ago my boss came to me and asked me why my photo assistants, where willing to bend over backwards for me, but would stick to the letter of the law, when she would make the same request of them. My secret? I had build a strong relationship with my assistants, not in order to manipulate them into doing more, but to give them what I could to help them, teach them, support them. Everyone loves to reciprocate. Take care of the others in your network first.
Building a network: forget about yourself
Gary Vaynerchuck (@garyvee), one of the top social media evangelists, keeps harping on this in his book “Jab, Jab, Jab, right hook.” The free content, the helpful hints, the interactions with your followers … should far outweigh our right hooks, or sales pitches in social media. He also wrote a book called “The Thank You economy”, which was the reason that my twitter feed blew up earlier this year. Building a network: make it about others Want my advice on building a network that is strong, solid, sound and sympathetic? Make it about other people. Share other people’s stories. Promote other people’s projects. Volunteer for other people’s visions. Assist other people’s ambition. Tell other people “Thank You”. I know it sound counter intuitive, but trust me, making your network about others will grow your network. Check back tomorrow for some real world examples I’ve used in building a network.
OK. I’ll give you one example: I produced a 1 minute video for free and build a relationship with a film gear manufacturer. Find out how that helped in tomorrow’s blog post.
Where does a list like this one get you, when building a network. Wanna find out what opportunities it turned into for me when building a network? Check back tomorrow.
Great words.