Rock Your Business Tip #1: Choose Magnetic Contacts

Written By Dave Navarro

(Please read this the whole way through before you comment so you don’t think I’m telling you to ditch your friends.)

How’s your business growing?  If it’s expanding by leaps and bounds, then “good on ya,” as Michael Martine is fond of saying.  If it isn’t - and you’re struggling to bring in more traffic, more customers, more sales, then the problem may not be your business model as much as the people in your peer group. You may limiting yourself based on the expectations of your business friends and associates who don’t drive you to be more, do more, and demand more from yourself.

Two Types of Business Forces: Grounding And Magnetism

There are two types of people you can hang out with in the business arena:  Grounders and Magnets. Here’s what makes one type different from the other.

• Grounders are people who are roughly at the same level as you are in your business.  People with similar sales levels, or brand awareness levels, similar connections, skills, etc..  These are great people to connect with because they are able to work with you where you are and  understand where you’re coming from.  Additionally, there’s often opportunities to team up and do cool stuff to expand your business.   But there’s a limiting factor as well - it’s often hard to find people who are willing to think outside of the box, push themselves harder and raise their standards in huge ways.  Long-term, you tend to stay at the same level if all the people you connect with are Grounders.

• Magnets are people who are well above your level in their businesses.  They are bigger names, stronger brands, and more connected people.  Most people thing Magnets are “out of their league,” but it’s often not the case.  If you can find the right way to connect with Magnets, they can take you under their wing, showing you what’s possible beyond your comfort zone and even providing things like mentoring advice, first-hand introductions, and the occasional kick in the pants. Magnets are powerful contacts because to continue connecting with them, you have to raise your own standards just to keep up.  Sometimes this is tough work, but sometimes it’s actually easy because your Magnets show you ways to get the results you’re currently getting with less work - freeing you up to grow.  Long term, Magnets can be the strongest factor in your business growth.

Don’t Spend All Your Time With Grounders

If you want to grow your business at a faster rate, you need to, need to, NEED TO carefully strike a balance between Grounders and Magnets in your life.   You can’t spend all your time with Grounders because you’ll grow slowly - or stay at the same level forever.  This is not to say Grounders are bad to spend time with. Far from it - in fact, you’ll have a lot of Grounders in your life because they are your peer group.  They have valuable things to contribute to your business growth, and you have many valuable things to contribute right back at them.  And most importantly, Grounders are the people who will have more time for you.

And in reality, you’re a Grounder too, to other people, just as I am.  So I’m not knocking it.   Not at all.

The Psychology of Magnetic People

Why do I call the other camp of people Magnets?  It’s because of a basic psychological principle that we tend to perform according to the expectations of our peer group. If everyone else we like to hang with is doing things a certain way, or achieving a certain level of things, then we want to do the same things too.  It’s just natural.  But if all you have are Grounders, your peer group doesn’t drive you to push yourself to higher levels.

When you include more Magnets in your peer group, you’re going to feel that psychological pull to behave in ways that match what your Magnets are doing - to employ better strategies, to think in bigger-picture ways, and to move outside your comfort zone.

And the coolest part - when you grow as an effect of hanging out with all of your Magnets, you become the Magnet to all of your Grounders. You get to take them with you, if they’re willing.  And how cool is that.

A Quick Shout-Out To My Magnets

There are a few solid people a rung above where I am that have been m most powerful Magnets to me over the last 6 months, helping me create a business with more growth than I’d seen in 5 years (cumulative!).  These Magnets are awesome people who you likely already know, but I want to give them a special shout-out to say thanks for all they’ve done to help me:

• Freelance writers James and Harry at Men with Pens, for getting me into freelance writing and helping me build my brand,
• Home business resources maven Naomi at Ittybiz, who has given me valuable technical and marketing advice,
• Freelance entrepreneur Christine O’Kelly at SelfMadeChick, who helped me with strategies to gain long-term, well paying clients,
• Social media web designer Jon Phillips at Spyre Studios, who helped me get huge exposure as one of the original writers at Freelance Folder
• Marketing and Copywriting superhero Sonia Simone at Remarkable Communication for her real-world advice and support as I’ve jumped into the freelancing waters.
• Blog consultant Michael Martine for helping me understand more about creating blogs that drive clients to you.

How To Get The Attention of Magnets

On the next Rock Your Business post, I’ll go into the strategies I used to get my Magnets to pay attention to me and help become part of my business growth.  Check back next Wednesday or subscribe to this blog for free to get updates automagically sent your way.  Huzzah!

Posted on August 27, 2008 
Filed Under Networking Riffs | 13 Comments