How To Surround Yourself With The People You Want To Become

Early on as an entrepreneur, I didn’t really understand or believe the concept that my surroundings played a role on my success. I always thought that if I worked hard, I wouldn’t have any problems reaching my goals regardless of who I was around.

Thus, I spent my first year or so in a box because I didn’t go out and make the effort to connect with others. Recently, I made a post on Facebook asking people to tell me what types of articles they wanted me to blog about.

I got someone who wanted to know more about how he could surround himself with more like-minded people and how we should reach out to these groups. I think this is a great concept to learn and as early as you can because it helps a lot. 

In this article, I’m going to share some tips on how to surround yourself with the people you want to become:

Look For Mastermind Groups

I have been lucky enough to be in a few different mastermind groups, which have helped me out tremendously. Whether you search online or look for them locally, you can find tons of groups that you can potentially join.

Mastermind groups are great because you get to stay close to a group of people who are usually trying to achieve similar goals in life. You not only get feedback, advice and strong relationships, but you have the opportunity to challenge one another to succeed.

Go To Local Business Events

Depending on your location, it may be tougher to find business events to go to. If you live in Silicon Valley, there’s probably an event every night whereas someone living in Toledo, Ohio may only be able to find them once a month.

From going to networking events, conferences and even StartupWeekend, I was able to build relationships with tons of great people. These friendships were amazing because I was now surrounding myself and constantly chatting with likeminded individuals that were pushing me to be my best.

Chase The Top

Sometimes, you simply cannot build a friendship or relationship with all the entrepreneurs you want. They may be too famous, too busy or just not interested. However, that doesn’t mean that you still cannot surround yourself with their presence.

Almost everyone nowadays has Facebook (Fan Pages), Twitters, Instagrams, Blogs, Newsletters, and other mediums where you can connect with them. Every morning when I wake up, I get tons of inspirational emails, articles and knowledge from a few different entrepreneurs I follow closely.

You don’t always have to maintain a direct relationship with someone to be influenced by their knowledge. If you can’t make friends with them, you can still surround yourself with their material.

Now I’m going to share some tips on what you do when you meet the person you want to surround yourself with:

Earn Mutual Respect

You first need to target select individuals that you really respect. Whether they are older or younger than you, you need to have respect for them and what they do.

However, it’s not just about looking up to them or having respect for them – it needs to be mutual. Most entrepreneurs forget that earning the respect of their peers is just as important as it is to dish it out.

Even if the other person has more credentials than you, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have something unique to offer. Don’t look up to people, find a way to see eye to eye with them. Give respect, and get some back.

Don’t Ask For Shit

Finding people you want to hangout with and surrounding yourself with them is easy. Getting them to accept you as part of their group is the hard part. The first mistake entrepreneurs make is that they start asking for things.

Nobody wants to give you anything. If you build a friendship and are doing it for the right reasons, then people may be open to sharing information or giving you things later on. Don’t just build a relationship because you need something from them.

Build a relationship with people because you value who they are and you want to spend time with them. You enjoy their company, wisdom and value.

This Isn’t A One-Way Street 

Friendships are two-way streets. Both individuals in the friendship must give just enough to get back. Don’t expect to enter into a friendship where it won’t require mutual work because you’ll lose friends quicker than you can count to 3.

Every entrepreneur (successful or not) typically needs the same things. They need people to bounce ideas off of, get motivation from and even help them in times of need. When you start building relationship with people you want to become, you need to do what you would expect them to do for you.

Conclusion

Surrounding yourself with extraordinary people in your life is a great thing to do, but you want to follow the tips mentioned above to maintain solid relationships. In this article, I talked about where you can find people to befriend and how you can continuously maintain that friendship.

photo credit: Victor1558 via photopin cc