From the course: Creating a Career Plan
Build and deepen relationships
- If it hasn't happened already, there will come a time in your life when you're giving back, when it's no longer about asking for work but being the nexus, the resource for others, sometimes helping them to find jobs. This role is not determined by age, you can begin it now. As you collect information on your contacts, you'll begin to amass information on them that may have no immediate impact on your business life but may help you deepen the relationship with those people over time. For example, let's say one of the things you've learned about your colleague, let's call him Bill, is that he collects antique cars. That is something you personally have no interest in, nor will you necessarily remember that it's Bill who does. But when you read or hear something about antique cars, you can search your database and Bill's name will come up. A few months later, when your friend Carl, who also collects cars, is in desperate need of a new mechanic, you will remember that you know someone else who is also a car collector. You'll do a search for cars in your database and Bill's name will appear. You can now introduce them and Carl may well have found himself a new mechanic. Can you see all the number of benefits for all the people involved here? Carl got his mechanic and can now exhale. The mechanic has a new client. Bill feels good because he's gotten his long-time mechanic more work. You've introduced Bill and Carl and they may begin to forge a relationship based on their mutual love of cars. And you feel good, knowing you were the person who made all this happen. But beyond feeling good, you've done favors for people. Business can be seen as the practice of trading favors. While you shouldn't expect Bill or Carl to pay you back by doing something directly in return, simple kindness is its own reward. And from a business perspective, you may now begin to be seen as the person who can make things happen, the go-to man or woman or resource. When I worked in digital media, I developed this kind of reputation. The word was that Chaz knows everybody. I didn't of course, but I knew enough people that if someone needed a referral, I was only one or two steps away from connecting people with what or whom they needed. You'll want to develop a marketing sensibility so that whenever you hear about the needs of someone in your network, your mind will immediately go to the person or persons you know who may be able to help them find a solution. Your ability to build and utilize these informational assets will pay dividends for you in the future. This is more than paying it forward or building up a reserve of good karma. It's the right thing to do and it makes good business sense.
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