The Value of Your Network Can Be Priceless Thumbnail

As some of you may know, I used to drive quite a bit for work.  Not only did I not work in the city I live in, but I didn’t work in the state I lived in either.  While I enjoyed my job, it (the commuting) grew tiring, and I knew I was missing out on getting to know people and do things in my community.

A few months ago, I got a new job down the street from where I live.  Once I got settled into that, It was time to start building connections – I shouldn’t need to explain to the Yakezie members the value of a community.  I have lived here for about 2 years now, but due to being gone 14 hours most days and working one (sometimes both) days on the weekend, I obviously didn’t know that many people.

THE DECISION TO MAKE A BETTER CONNECTION

I decided that it was time to change that, and I decided that it would be good for everyone that I knew to meet everyone else that I knew.  So I decided to get everyone together once or twice and see exactly what would happen.  I must say, things have gone well.  (I’m not going to name anyone by name, but we do have a rather eclectic group of people).

All 7 of us at the table learned that each one of us wants to start their own business sometime in the future.  With the diverse skill sets and hobbies that we had at the table, I’m not sure we would need to go outside of the group to get anything major done.

There are a few lawyers in our group – they can help us file incorporation papers and handle the legal side of the business.  They are also extremely hard working and focused.  Each of the lawyers also have hobbies that can help others in the group if they do decide to launch a business.

There are a few brewers in our group – both of whom make excellent beer and would like to start a brewery someday.  Of course, we all volunteered to sample their craft to see what we found most popular and that they should sell well, but we also offered up interesting locations that we knew were vacant in the city, marketing tips, suggestions with names and the like.

There are a few people in the group who have run their own business or help someone else run their business.  They obviously will be a valuable resource when something does get off the ground, telling friends what pitfalls to avoid, how to ensure success and be supportive of the effort.

While this group may just be a bunch of 20-something guys getting together for lunch once a month and shooting the breeze, that doesn’t really matter right now – what matters is that in 10-20 years, if we are still all getting together for lunch, who knows where we will all be.  One could be a restaurateur, a prominent lawyer, the head of a local development company or something else.

STICKING WITH IT FOR THE LONG TERM

Some of you in the Yakezie probably remember when we were just a hand full of people who had commented on Sam’s post outlining the goals for the network, how to join, and what to do.  Back when we had nothing to coordinate but a Google group and a few Google docs pages.  Back before we had a slick website, a fancy forum and all of the people who we are fortunate enough to have as Members and Challengers right now.  Did any of you think we would grow to be what we’ve become?

The power of the Network can be harnessed for an unlimited amount of things.  You never know what will happen, but so long as we keep plugging away and staying in touch, good things will happen.  You can bank on it!

Regards,

Jeff