THE POWER OF COMMUNITY
We are all members of communities. We all naturally associate
with LIKE MINDED individuals. We know people near our homes and
many people online as well. For now, let's focus on your
PERSONAL community, the people you know and who know you.
What we need is to LEVERAGE the POWER of our community. The
three steps outlined below will help you to begin. If you REALLY
do it, you will begin to benefit from the tremendous power that
is already in your hands. This is not a quick fix program but
you will benefit from it for a lifetime.
First, get a pad and pen or an open word processing page. Think
for a moment about the people in your world, both online and
offline. Who do you speak with, meet with, exchange email with?
What do you get from them? What do you give to them? How did you
come together? Write down EVERY NAME and leave space to make
notes next to their name. Once the list is made, get ready to
take the POWER STEP.
Mark out the people you do business with now and next to every
name remaining note down four things. First, what do they do for
a living? Second, are you like minded with them? Third, how can
they use what you do? Fourth, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being
lowest and 5 being highest, how close are you to them? Next,
look at each name on the list and think through how you can
expand your relationship with them to include doing business
with them. TIP: Thinking about what THEY do helps you see them
as a complete person, not just a prospect. This will actually
help you BETTER UNDERSTAND exactly how to approach them.
Next, take the top 10 names on the list and in the next five
days take a concrete step that moves you toward doing business
with them. Maybe they need more information about what you do.
After you have finished with the top 10 move on to the next 10
until you reach the end of the list. During this process be sure
and look carefully for LIKE MINDED people. Once you have
completed this process a time or two you will notice that the
size of your community has grown. Expect it to grow more the
more effort you put in.
THE BOTTOM LINE OF COMMUNITY
How can a community of like minded individuals help you? If you
get nothing more from this experiment than developing a group of
contacts that can help you evaluate opportunities and give you
HONEST feedback you will be way ahead of the game. If, however
you persevere and find that community of like minded people, you
will reap the rewards for years to come.