Your instinct is to stay in your own comfort zone by networking with people who are equally successful. If you want to achieve higher levels of success, it is imperative to surround yourself with people who are a level up influencer.
When you surround yourself with others who are highly successful, you’re in a position to learn from them, collaborate with their connections, and challenge yourself. You’ll also see how they create a system of reciprocity, that is, they actively and regularly give back to a person who was able to connect them or refer them.
This is where a lot of business owners get stopped when trying to level up their networking. They don’t network up because they don’t think they have anything to give the highly successful and influential person.
Don’t let that stop you. If someone of high influence has been generous with you in giving you their time and attention, try these ideas:
Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.
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