The Art of Networking

In my post on Robert Kiyosaki and how his advice can make you go broke, I mentioned that one of the issues with traditional education is that it doesn’t teach you the importance of collaboration. Your success in traditional education is more dependent on what you can accomplish by yourself sitting on a chair and studying than it is on your relationships with other human beings.

This is not the case in the world of business. In the world of business, your success is highly dependent on the relationships you build with other people. In this post, I’d like to spend some time reflecting on that and I’d also like to look at some practical steps one can take in improving relationships for the sake of improving business prospects.

The Playboy Hero

The movies have popularized the concept of the wealthy solo businessman. Think Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark. This guy does his best work alone. He has very few friends and most of the people he interacts with are just in awe of him. He is self-made, has all the money one could dream of, has all the toys one could desire, lives in a mansion, and travels the world. There’s just one problem – he’s not real. In the real world, business is done through relationships with other people. The fewer the relationships, the less business gets done. Where there are no relationships, there is no business.

A real-world example of a businessman who more closely demonstrates what it takes to be successful in the real world is Donald Trump. Regardless of your political views and regardless of your personal views of Trump, you have to admit that the guy has achieved a lot. From stately buildings with his name on them and world-class golf courses to reality television, all the way to becoming president—at which point he probably become the most loved, most hated, and most well-known person on the planet simultaneously. You cannot argue with the fact that he has achieved a lot. Like him or hate him, there are very few people in the world who wouldn’t mind trading places with him.

In his book, “The Art of the Deal”, Donald Trump takes you through a week in his life. As you read the record of each day, you cannot help but notice that the guy spends most of his time talking on the phone. What is he doing? He’s touching base with people. He’s finding out how they’re doing. He’s following up on conversations, on work, and on business deals. In other words, he’s spending his time talking to people.

Also in the book, Donald Trump speaks about his early days in Manhattan. One of the first things he did was to join a club—a place where he could rub shoulders with other people in the city to build relationships and do business. Donald Trump’s success is strongly linked to the relationships that he built, relationships that he builds, and the relationships that he maintains through social interactions and by phoning people every day of his life.

You Can’t Do it Alone

When it comes to networking, there are several phrases that I’ve learned, and that I often repeat to myself. I first heard these phrases from Kevin Samuels, though I’m not sure if they originated with him. The first phrase is “Your network is your net worth.” The second one is “Business is a social activity, and the success is shared.” And the last one “Lone wolves die”.

It has taken me a long time to understand what it takes to be successful in business. A lot of that time I spent sitting at my desk reading books, watching videos, or doing work on my laptop. Only recently, through hearing these phrases from Kevin Samuels, and then later hearing the same concepts from business coaches, did I learn the importance of getting out of the house and getting in touch with people.

Business is about people. The purpose of a business is to benefit other people. The benefit may be in solving a problem, for an individual or the business that an individual owns. The benefit may be improving the quality of life of someone by providing good quality products and services and making them more affordable. The benefit might even be to create an escape for people through entertainment. The purpose of business, ultimately, is to make an end customer, a human being, happy.

So networking achieves two things that cannot be achieved by simply working by yourself in your room or in your office. Firstly, it puts you in touch with the needs of the people you wish to serve. It is impossible to truly understand the needs of people, to the point where you can provide for that need effectively unless you mix with them. Secondly, networking gets people to know you and trust you and then buy from you. They buy from you because your solution fits their need because you understand them. They buy from you because they know you.

Another benefit of networking is that it puts you in the path of business. There are many social events happening at any given moment. The only way to have access to any social event is to have a relationship with someone attending or organizing the event. You will not be invited to a party, a wedding, a dinner, a bachelor's party, and so on unless you have a relationship with those connected to the event. In the same way, there is a lot of business going on around us. The only way to have access to that business is to have a relationship with someone connected to the business. Business is a social activity.

One sure way to kill your business prospects is to try to do it all by yourself. The only reason someone would want to do things all by themselves is that they want all the rewards for themselves. You don’t want to include anyone else in your venture because that would mean sharing profits. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out like that. If you choose to go it alone, you end up losing all the business. If you partner with others who have complementary skills, yes, you may need to share profits, but you’re more likely to get the job done, done properly, and you have a higher chance of achieving even greater outcomes. Business is a social activity, and the reward is shared.

Practical Steps

Here now are some practical things you can do to build your network, and thus your net worth.

1. Join a business network club. I personally attend a networking club every Friday. I don’t always do business with the people in the club, but the club helps me to meet new people on a regular basis. This improves my social skills, and it puts me in a better position to find new business.
2. Tell 3 people about your business every day. Phone a friend, an old colleague, or an old classmate, and ask them what they are doing. Without trying to sell them something, just tell them what you’re doing and ask them if they know of anyone who might be interested in hearing about your business. Rinse and repeat.
3. Connect with people on social media. Social media can be a good way to build relationships if it is used correctly. Reach out to people and have one on one calls with them. By doing this, you turn social media profiles into friends and potential business partners.
4. Get out of the house. Go to the social events - the dinners, the socials, the weddings, the conferences, the braais. Go anywhere where you know that there are going to be people. Speak to them. Find out about their jobs, their businesses, their families, and their troubles. Just connect with other human beings.

I hope that this has been helpful. I certainly wish that I had known this when I was in University or even in high school. Your IQ may have brought you to the point where you are useful to others. But it’s your social skills, EQ, that will turn your usefulness into wealth. Business is an art. Networking is how you practice that art. The sooner you get good at it, the sooner you will be successful.