28 Days Challenge

by | Jan 29, 2018 | Blog | 0 comments

“It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you”

Bryan Hughes

Executive Vice President, Total Technology Resources

"Your network is your net worth" -Porter Gale

I am obsessed with building my network. A strong network is like money in the bank. It’s an asset. You invest in your assets… but are you investing in your network? Your network is the key that opens the door to opportunity and possibility. Building (and maintaining) a strong network is the most powerful tool you can have in your arsenal to accomplish your goals, and yet for most of us, our networking attempts are incidental and quite ineffective. For that reason, I am challenging myself to making one new connection for every day of February. 28 Days. 28 Connections. Investing in Social Capital.

Since it is important to dedicate time to networking, I plan to make myself available once a day, every day during the month of February for a one hour video chat with a new connection. I’m looking to meet all types of people, whether they’re local, across the country, or on the other side of the world. Proactive Networking. It’s 2018! It makes no difference how near or far another individual is, we have powerful tools at our disposal that make that distance irrelevant.

Does this mean that every connection you make is going to make a fantastic addition to your network? Certainly not. You’ll want to make your Social Capital investments quality not just quantity.  When investing in your Social Capital, you want to be strategic and diverse. How do you accomplish this? As you make your connections and decide where to invest your time and energy, evaluate the intent and potential of your pool of connections. You want to have a healthy mix of transactional and relational reasons for networking. To do this successfully, you’ll need to move out of your comfort zone. Be diverse with your Social Capital investments. Go outside your network for new connections.

Now that you’ve decided where to diversely and strategically invest your Social Capital, let’s talk about nurturing that investment. To really capitalize on this, your connection has to be mutually beneficial. You’ve made the investment, no you need to leverage it. You must be willing to give when others need and to ask when you’re in need. It’s here that comes to mind the old adage “make new friends, but keep the old”. It is equally important to nurture not only your new relationships, but the connections you already had also!

“Indeed, it might not be who or what you know that creates advantage, but rather more simply, who you become by dint of how you hang out—the disadvantaged hang out with folks just like themselves, while the advantaged engage folks of diverse opinion and practice.”
Ronald Burke

Author, Neighbor Networks

Whether you goal is to focus on your head, your heart or your wallet; remember, building and strengthening your network will help you improve your happiness, productivity, and true net worth. I encourage you to focus on your passions, surround yourself with people that share your values and don’t let your social capital lie dormant. Reinvest it! And remember, your network is your net worth.

Porter Gale

Author, Your Network is Your Net Worth

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