People make a huge impact on your life – and your success as an entrepreneur. Are the people around you boosting your dreams and backing you up, or are they deflating your enthusiasm with their toxic naysaying?
During my 15 years helping entrepreneurs with great ideas build their businesses, I have learned firsthand that the time you spend with others is nothing less than precious – and an investment in your future.
Specifically, I’ve benefited from working for some of the greatest entrepreneurs and innovators of our time, including Richard Branson and Tony Robbins.Watching Tony parlay his relationships into a powerful business network inspired me to assess my own circle of friends and to understand the power of personal networks. Here are 5 reasons you should surround yourself with good people and how to do so.
- Create Your “Fab Five”
The name “Fab Five” came into wide use in reference to what many people consider the greatest recruiting class in sports history, the 1991 Michigan men’s basketball team. In their first year, these freshman players took their team to the NCAA championship, a remarkable and unprecedented accomplishment. In the same way Michigan’s coach recruited them, you need to recruit and build your own championship team around you.
- Cut the Roster
The first step to building that team is to take inventory and eliminate who should notbe on it. Write down the names of the five people outside your family that you spend the most time with. Ask yourself: Do they support me? Do they want to see me succeed in my new venture? Or would they prefer to see me fail and keep me close? If the answer to that last question is yes, check them off your list and get them out of your life.
- Find Three Mentors
Answer this question: Who are your three mentors? If you don’t know, you’d better get to work finding one…. and another…. and another. You need to find people who reflect your higher aspirations. If you want to build a million-dollar business, you need to spend your time with people who have already built million-dollar businesses.
- Study Their Playbooks
Immerse yourself in the way your core group sees the world. Learn how they program their minds. Let their learning and instincts wash over you. If you spend enough time reading and absorbing their material, you will start to pick up how they act, think, and make decisions. Their state of mind will start to rub off on you.
- Find Someone to Mentor
It’s not enough to get guidance. You also need to give. I recommend that everyone mentor at least one person half his or her own age. Interacting with students and younger entrepreneurs will give you an entirely fresh perspective and help you see things in a whole new way.
You need to surround yourself with people that will inspire you to be a better person, motivate you to achieve your goals and empower you to make the changes you need to become successful.
http://launch.inc.com/article-16-2-116/5-reasons-you-should-surround-yourself-with-good-people.html
