Good Morning đ - Greg here.
Are you struggling with networking?
Is it because you feel like networking is about asking for favors from others?
Does it make you uncomfortable to ask for help?
Iâm one of those people who hates asking people to do things for me.
This morning, I want to share a tip to help you get past that obstacle in your networking.
It starts with a garage sale.
This issue takes about 4 minutes to read.
Add Value?
What does âadding valueâ mean?
We hear people say it all the time, but have you ever given it much thought?
This question had been on my mind for a few weeks, and it all started because we had a garage sale.
My wife and I had been getting rid of the clutter in our house.
We went through our closets and storage areas and picked out things we no longer used.
We didn't care about making money from the sale.
It was just easier to have people pay us to take our things away than to pay someone to do it.
The things we sold at the garage sale had no value to us. In fact, they were taking away value because they were taking up space in our house.
The space in our house is more valuable to us than the things that were in it.
We didn't bother pricing each item.
Our time was more valuable than figuring out the right price for everything.
Time and space was more valuable to us than the physical items.
So, we made it easy and sold everything for a dollar.
If we got a dollar for one of these things, it was more valuable to us than the thing itself.
For the people who bought our things for a dollar, the item was more valuable.
It was something they wanted or something they felt like they could sell to someone else for more than a dollar.
For us, each item was worthless. For them, it was worth more.
We created value from nothing.
What I learned from that garage sale is:
Value is in the eye of the beholder.
And I started thinking how this applies to networking.
Share Your Wisdom
There are a lot of reasons people donât network.
One I hear a lot is:
"Networking feels awkward," or "I don't want to ask people for anything."
When people say this, my response is:
"Give first. Give to the other person and networking will feel better."
I talked about his back in TIN #004 - How To Make Networking Feel Good.
When you are in a networking conversation, listen to what the other person is working on and look for opportunities to give them something.
By doing this, you shift the focus from what you want out of the conversation to what you can give to the other person.
This relieves the feeling of awkwardness many people feel when they are networking.
The feeling we are imposing on the other personâs time.
When you go into the conversation expecting to help them, you feel less anxiety about how the conversation is going to go.
When I give people this advice, the next question is:
"What do I have to give?"
It could be an idea or advice.
It could be a recommendation on a book you read (if you canât think of one, you can always share my book or this newsletter with someone else)
It could be an introduction to someone who could help them.
We all have a unique collection of knowledge, experience, and ideas.
No one has the same collection you have.
Throughout your life, youâve been creating this collection simply by being alive.
This is your wisdom.
But youâve probably forgotten about most of it.
Just like the things that were sitting in my closets and storage areas.
These bits of wisdom are sitting in the storage closets of our brains.
They aren't valuable to us because we we aren't doing anything with them.
We take our collected wisdom for granted because we think everyone else knows the same stuff we do.
But weâre wrong about that.
We are victims of the Curse of Knowledge.
This is the concept where we think everyone knows all the things we know.
The reality is nobody knows what you know, and nobody knows it in the way that you know it.
Your wisdom is unique.
By taking your wisdom out of the closet of your mind and sharing it with others, you're adding value to other's lives.
Do you have:
Experience in an industry you could share with people who are just starting out?
A network of connections you could introduce someone to?
Recommendations for books to read, shows to watch, places to travel?
Interesting stories about problems you have solved in the past?
Different perspectives because of the generation you belong to? (Works well for college students and retirees alike).
All of these make up the unique wisdom you have.
Give it away!
My Wisdom
When I started sharing my story about learning to network, it connected with a lot of people.
Not because everyone had the same experience, but because a lot of people felt the same way as I had felt.
My journey to become a better networker was unique to me, but the lessons I learned along the way are helpful for others.
But I couldnât add value to their lives by keeping that journey to myself.
Thatâs why I write on LinkedIn every weekday.
Thatâs why I wrote a book about networking for introverts.
Thatâs why Iâve been writing this newsletter every Saturday for 39 weeks.
I donât have any distinguished qualifications or credentials that make me better at networking than you.
But Iâm sharing everything Iâve learned in my life with my readers.
Iâve already lived these lessons and learned them. But they donât have any value unless I give them to others.
Thatâs one way I add value to this world.
Give It Away
You have a lot more to give than you realize.
Start cleaning out your mental storage closets and share your wisdom with others.
Have a mental garage sale and give away your knowledge and experience.
You might be surprised at how valuable it is to them.