Relationships That Fuel Your Career

In my last article, I wrote about building a soulful community of personal relationships. This article is about building a business community of relationships that are a crucial factor in taking your career or business to the top.

Let’s face it. You won’t get to the top of the game of life without other people. Successful businesses are built on a solid foundation of strong relationships. Relationships help you get a handle on who you are, and who you want to become. The quality of relationships that will take your career to the top depends equally on what you put into it and what you get out of it.

Laura Berman Fortgang is one of the top career coaches in the field. In her book “Take Yourself to the Top,” she suggests assembling a strong personal and professional community to support you.

In order to have more than you’ll need in terms of love, support, friendship and opportunity, you’ll need:

Your Inside Ten

People inside of your life you can count on – friends, family and people with whom you have close ties in your professional world. They bring out your best, buffer and cushion you from negative influences, are generous with you and don’t feel threatened when you succeed. They don’t talk behind your back, always have your best interests at heart and they feel exactly the same about you. It’s a two way street. You are both in the relationship because it enhances both your lives.

Your Frontline Twenty

These are people who are truly your professional advocates, the ones who will tell the world how great you are without any prompting. They are in your fan club and go crazy in a room when your name comes up. They bring in business or opportunities for you simply because they believe in you wholeheartedly and share that fact freely. You want to build this quality of network to at least 20 and find a way to stay in touch regularly whether by phone, email, get-togethers, or a newsletter if appropriate.

The theory behind this is that if you choose well, these 20 will multiply into many, many more. They are your front line out there, and they each have many more behind them that they know and can talk to about you.

How do you build your frontline 20? You’ll have to leave your shyness behind. Begin by getting in front of a lot of people at networking, industry and company events. Attend conferences and professional organizations, give presentations and even volunteer – any way you can see and be seen. Gradually the contacts begin to build on each other and it will taper to smaller, intimate meetings where you get a chance to really know people. The hardest part is starting. Remember that in building your business community what works is a genuine exchange of information on business trends and leads and putting others together that may need connection. Schmoozing is definitely out!

Try It Out:

• Who’s on your Inside Ten list?
• Who’s on your Frontline Twenty?
• What’s one thing you can do to start building your business community?

What Clients Are Saying:

"When a person is stressed and emotionally invested, it's hard to be objective. Elena's coaching framework helped achieve clarity by determining what I wanted and how to get there while achieving balance in other areas. I was fortunate to have known Elena in a professional context before she became my coach. Making the decision to use her was simple - I was already witness to her intelligence, optimism and effective communication style. She combines a rare skill set - demonstrated serial success, a zest for life and new ventures, and a genuine concern for people."
-Christine Berka, Director, Business Development

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