From the course: Entrepreneurship Foundations

Growth hacking: Friends and family

From the course: Entrepreneurship Foundations

Growth hacking: Friends and family

- I love the concept six degrees of separation. For those that don't know, the saying infers that you are six degrees away from anyone in the world. This saying has applied to my entrepreneurial journey countless times, where distant connections end up resulting in business deals, partnerships, and even mentors. And many of these connections stemmed from friends and family. In the early days of your business, it can be hard to ask others to help you. You spend hours and hours working on your business that when someone asks you if they can help, your automatic response is, "No, no, no, I've got it," or "No, no, no, you can't help anyway." Or maybe you're like me and, for so long, I was ashamed to ask. I knew people thought I was a bit crazy for starting the business and I didn't want to prove them right by showing I wasn't fully in control and on top of things. However, I realized very quickly that this was the wrong approach. Instead, you should be telling every family member and friend what you need. There's a reason why the phrase it takes a village exists. In the early days, it was me telling my then boyfriend, "Man, I have no idea how in the world to build a website. "I know we need one, but we have no money, "so I'm sort of stuck." A friend of a friend later and we had a website built for us as a favor to help us start off. Imagine that, a full website from a small conversation with my significant other. Or even more recently, when last year, my mother met with her financial adviser who mentioned that he had a son that worked in the entertainment industry. My mom insisted that we connect. Well, not only was it a great personal connection, we're now doing our first deal together, 12 months later. Yes, I know. I'm definitely going to have to cut my mom in on that one. Also, broadcast your needs to friends and family that you might not see in person. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram are all great resources for promoting what you need. I've seen all kinds of posts on social media asking for help, everything from anyone know a student looking for an internship to does anyone know a good business broker. These platforms help you widen your network to include people who are really eager to help you, but you don't see them regularly. Those who love you want to see you succeed, and while they might not be able to help code your app or create your business plan or build your website, they can help get you to the people that can do those things. Make sure to keep asking for what you need loudly and proudly. You'll be surprised by whose cousin work there or whose friend of a friend works with this person or that your neighbor's old high school friend is the exact mentor you've been looking for. The connections are out there, so cast your net wide.

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