When you have a goal they say you should share it with people so that they can support you and hold you accountable when your own responsibility meter goes on the fritz. But once you put your plans out into the world, into the ears of others, things can get awfully real, awfully fast. Connections begin to be made, friends and business associates of friends are brought into the loop and the result is a momentum you cannot achieve on your own.
It’s exciting to see the vision you have in your head begin to grow past your preparation and the work you have done. When only you know your dream, potential failure feels like a shrug of the shoulders, “we’ll get ’em next time”. Bringing others in makes the potential fall public and terrifying, something I haven’t felt at all until now. But in all the research I’ve done, networking is by far the number one key to success in starting a professional endeavor. All along I thought that was something you did once you are up and running but now I realize it must begin at the beginning.
Like me, you may have never built your own business but I’ll bet you have built yourself a life, full of good people. And those individuals with whom you share your personal existence are most likely the first to hear about your plans for a business. You trust them and feel safe telling them what you’re up to. They want to help, they have ideas and contacts to move your objectives forward, and just like that, your aspirations no longer live only inside you, in the pages of your notes and your words in a script. It has wings, and in my experience, that is an incredible thing.
