“Your network is your net worth”

“Your network is your net worth”

Kirsten Liston, Kristy Grant-Hart and I were on one of our first conference calls about our book,?The Compliance Entrepreneur's Handbook: Tools, Tips, and Tactics to Find Your Killer Idea and Create Success on Your Own Terms?https://tinyurl.com/34fetv8v?. We were discussing ideas and determining how to construct the chapters, when I heard them give me one of their mottos, “your network is your net worth.”??Ever have one of those moments when you hear something and know that you just have to stop and think about it???I had to turn this one around and around in my mind. And the more I thought about it the more I liked it. As we got into the book the idea fit into each of our stories about how we became entrepreneurs.??

We each depended on the network of people we knew for the success of our businesses.??But this isn’t just about numbers.??It also relates to the quality of your network – whether people trust you, whether they see you as a reliable partner, whether you have contributed to the field.??

It may seem at times like luck. In my case, when our newly formed company, Integrity Interactive, needed capital, someone in the industry called me, asking me if I knew where to invest in the online compliance training field.??Of course, that’s what our company was doing!??And he, in turn, invested all the capital we needed.??Was this just luck???This was right out of Kirsten’s and Kristy’s playbook. The investor knew me because I had worked actively on my network, by publishing and speaking widely in my field.??I had many contacts in different sectors of our market. At the time I didn’t see it as developing a network.??I am not the cocktail party social type – I am a confirmed introvert.??But pursuing ideas (about compliance and ethics) was a passion for me, and brought me into contact with people around the world.??

What has been your experience???Have you found that your network, especially the people you know in our field, have contributed to your success, however you define success???If you have been an entrepreneur, have you found that you grew from your contacts, learned from them, and found business success through your network???

And of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention again our book, which has much more detail about how your network can lead to your success. In fact, why not consider the three of us part of your network!?