The saying goes that every person on earth is separated from
every other person by only six degrees. That means your
friend's brother's nephew's wife could know Michael
Dell, Donald Trump or Martha Stewart. You could conceivably be only
a few networking steps away from someone who could help you get
your business off the ground--be it an industry contact, a top
lawyer or a state government official. You've heard all about
the importance of networking, but what about harvesting your own
network to uncover someone who just might be able to get you in
touch with a stellar business contact? That's six-degree
networking.
Even if you don't think you know someone who can help,
you'd be surprised. What about an old schoolmate you send
holiday cards to? Who might she know? Or could your softball
teammate have a brother in the same industry in which you hope to
hang your shingle?
Perhaps the biggest benefit of using the "six degrees of
separation" method is that you have an "in" with
this new person. Since your friend of a friend is opening the door,
you're not exactly a stranger. "The whole key to six
degrees is you're coming with a reference; you're not cold
calling," says Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship
at a Time and CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight, a marketing and sales
consulting and training firm in Los Angeles. "You're
coming with a warm lead, so to speak."
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A Friend of a Friend
A warm lead is exactly how Paul Taylor found someone who could help
him get his specialty clothing business off the ground. Taylor, 36,
had been working as an arborist and found that his work clothing
wasn't as practical for tending trees as he would've liked.
He wanted to combine the durability of a canvas work pant with the
agility and great fit of a rock-climbing pant--so in 1997, he
launched Arborwear LLC from his parents' Cleveland-area
home.
Like any entrepreneur excited about a new idea, Taylor was
talking about the venture one day with a friend who was also an
arborist. This friend happened to have a friend whose sister worked
in a New York City fashion enterprise. Taylor called that friend of
a friend, who then introduced Taylor to his fashion-industry
sister. "I called her, and I ran the whole idea by her. She
didn't know anything about chain saws or tree work or
arborists, but she said, 'The key to it is that you have a
niche, and that's really the only place you can ever hope to
get started,'" recalls Taylor. "I wound up going to
New York City and meeting [this contact]. She loaned me a cell
phone and gave me this list of people to see about
fabric."
Taylor's fashion-industry contact was so helpful and
encouraging, in fact, that he credits her with helping him launch
his business. "She gave me confidence that this was a good
idea--and she gave me a push in the right direction," he
says.
Sincerity is the key to making the six-degree method of
networking work for you, according to experts. If you go to people
thinking only about what's in it for you, you'll turn off a
lot of potential contacts. "As you approach these individuals,
be sure you've clearly defined what you can do for them,"
says Ferrazzi. "Generosity is the [key] to your success with
relationships. Defining what currency you have--what you can do for
others-is crucial."
If you can bring something to the table, do it. If you
can't, as was the case with Taylor and the fashion-industry
contact, display complete humility, and be genuine in your
communication with contacts. Says Taylor, "The thing that
helped me most was that I never lied, [though] I always tried to
sound like I knew what I was talking about. I really found that
people bent over backward to help me."
To get started, plumb your expertise, and look for things to
offer. Taylor, for instance, was able to barter his tree-removal
services with a lawyer he met through another friend--he got legal
services to help set up his business, and the lawyer got a problem
tree removed from his property. Cultivating contacts has paid off
for Taylor, whose $1.5-million business now sells its Arborwear
line of specialty climbing and outdoor-work clothing online. The
company's line of pants, shirts, T-shirts, belts and hats is
also sold through retailers such as REI nationwide.
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