All Great, Creative Things in your Life will be achieved by this.
All great things in your life will be achieved by having extraordinary relationships. Put relationships in the top tier in your life. Always in the top 3. Always. You will never regret this.
Happy & Fulfilling relationships are life’s great pleasure. They give you support, friendship, camaraderie, and care when you need it. You know, people help other people. It seems straightforward, a no-brainer, and it is. And you would be surprised at how few people talk about their relationships like they are most important to them. Worse, how so many people tend to abandon or neglect them. Do not do this! Good, quality relationships are some of the most important things you’ve got in this life. Nurture and invest in them through investment in other people.
Give. Give. Give.
So many successful businesses operate off of this concept. To really succeed in business, you’ve got to be in it for other people. You’re seeking to solve problems for a particular market. You want to make things happen for them. You want to do deals with them and for them. You want to be a provider of value. Ideally, you give, give & give.
“Life gives to the givers and takes from the takers.”
— Joe Polish
Timeless. This quote will never go out of style, nor fade in its importance.
Look at the power of affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing’s power all revolves around healthy business relationships. Business owners helping other business owners move product, such as books, courses or coaching programs. The way it works is a business owner looking to promote a new product will give the copy + product link to another business owner to email to their list of customers to help their friend sell more units. In exchange for this, the business owner with the list gets anywhere from 50 to 75% commission off of the sale. It is a symbiotic relationship where each business owner benefits. One gets a sale of his item and a new customer she never would have had while the other one gets a healthy commission on the sale of the item. Win-win.
The catch with affiliate marketing is most big time list owners are not going to promote for just anybody who emails them. In fact, they’re quite picky because they can afford to be. Guess how you best go about finding willing affiliates to market your product? Through in-person relationship building. Giving value first without asking for anything in return. Promoting the other guy’s stuff frequently. Taking an interest in the product, promotion or project that is most important to them right now. That’s how you do it. The truth is, they don’t need you. And when the power structure is that slanted away from you, not favoring you, like in a not-so-great selling situation, you need to give even more than you usually do. Pull out the great, big Giving Guns and give away all you’ve got. It is very hard to not be impressed by such giving gestures because most people will never do this, even with their close friends. What’s your mindset toward giving things away?
What if something bad happened in your business? Say, for whatever reason, you had a terrible year. Sales were down big time. Say, you went through a creative lull and you felt you couldn’t create to save your own skin. Mind reeling. Units not selling. People don’t answer your texts and emails. And your morale is at an all time low. What would you do to fix it?
How many of you would reach out to the top 5 most successful people in your contact list and ask for help? How many of you would hire a consultant who you knew would be able to help guide you out of the morass? How many of you would get as creative as you’ve ever been in your problem-solving, pull on your grit and get after righting the ship?
Your network is the most likely to help save you and your company. You’re only one or two connections away from someone who can help boost your company and your cause into the stratosphere.
One of the cliches and truths in personal & professional development is that your network is your net worth. Yes, money is a way to keep score. But your healthy, positive relationships are the long-term currency in creativity and in business and in life. The amount of relationship currency you’ve built up is in direct proportion to the amount of time, energy and investment you’ve put in to them. How would your relationship account statement read?
Let’s tick-off all the big wins people want in business and see whether relationships play a key role in them:
You want Major book deals? Your relationship with your customers, your platform, your agent and publishers will determine your book deal.
You want a great product launch for your new product? Your relationship with the big list owners and influencers and your own prospects and customers will determine whether it is a successful launch.
You want bigger, higher paying speaking gigs? Your relationship with speakers’ bureaus and booking agents and your industry reputation, how your industry perceives you, shall be the determining factors.
You want monthly recurring revenue off of coaching and consulting programs you set up and perform for your market. Your relationships with those people, how you make those people feel, your energy, and your enthusiasm shall determine whether those people stay in your programs and keep showing up. How do they perceive you and relate to you? Are they looking forward to seeing you again? Do they wonder what’s next from you?
Make them look good.
You want to build a bigger audience, reach more people with your messages, and have a larger impact. The most effective and efficient way to do that is through others. Create something so great that people cannot help but talk about it. Solve a vexing problem that no one else is willing to take on. Go out and do something remarkable for people that will get other people talking. Give away your best ideas. Go out and create Superfans who will do your selling on your behalf to their audience. Be so good at what you do that they can’t help but spread your word and share it with others because it makes them look good.
See a pattern here in these big wins? A keen focus on extraordinary relationships. This pattern exists because that’s how all great things are accomplished — through others.
The lone wolf doesn’t win in creativity or in business or in life because the successful lone wolf is a myth.
It’s so easy to think that you can do all these things by yourself, that you don’t need anyone else, that relationships are tertiary in business. That’s a trap. Just because you usually work alone or don’t have employees doesn’t mean that other people are not wildly helpful in your success. Think of all the mentors and people you’ve learned from in your life. I can think of dozens. If you’re a writer or blogger, look at your bookshelf on your Kindle. If you’re a YouTuber, look at your favorite YouTubers and other influencers on social. If you’re a coach, tick-off your favorite coaches you’ve learned from. Now, try to tell me other people haven’t influenced your professional life. Of course, they have. You were never in this alone. You’re only fooling you.
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