008 • How to build the best network of friends

You might be happy with your life’s progress.

You might be confident in succeeding.

You might be neither of these things.

But one thing’s for sure - you’re going to get to where you want to be and much more if you have a group of friends around you who have your best interests at heart.

A group of friends who all level up, and push each other to do the same.

Unfortunately, it can be hard to discover the kind of people who are going to provide this for you. There are a lot of people in the world who don’t have much to offer or are simply too self-engaged to think about sharing their own values with others.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve begun to realise the power of a true network.

I’ve connected with some very driven, progress-minded people. YouTubers, agency builders, podcasters and coaches.

I wanted to share some tips relating to how I came to interact with people like this - how to find them and make sure that you all get along well so that you can get the most value out of your relationships with each other…

"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." — Jim Rohn

Be high-value yourself

Perhaps this is blunt, perhaps it’s obvious, but you have to bring something to the table if you want permission to sit down and eat.

These kinds of friends-to-be value their time highly, and they don’t want to spend too much of it interacting with people who aren’t going to offer them something in return.

This doesn’t have to be monetary gain.

This can be wisdom, advice, emotional support, creativity and ideas. Don’t think that you won’t be able to make valuable friendships if you aren’t rich.

Level up, learn things about the world, develop your emotional awareness and social skills, anything that’s going to help other people succeed if shared.

For myself, my value was demonstrated in a number of ways…

I’m a creator - I have skills in videography, writing, photography and more. I mentioned that a lot of the people I’ve connected with are also creators; I’ve filmed footage for them that they can use in their own content at no cost.

This is a very direct way of providing value.

I’ve also been training in the gym for five years, and it’s somewhat evident in my physique. This is a more subtle demonstration of my value, showing that I have lessons and wisdom to give when it comes to resilience and delaying gratification.

It’s not hard to achieve this step.

You don’t have to do much outside of general learning and self-improvement to gain some valuable knowledge that you can share.

The problem comes from the fact that, a lot of time, this value isn’t visible. You’ve been building in the dark, and people haven’t noticed.

This brings us on to the next stage…

Put yourself out there

If you don’t show people that you’re a valuable companion to have around, they’re not going to assume it for you.

You have to prove yourself to people in your day-to-day life.

Open your mouth up around others - hold conversations with them and try to be engaging and share knowledge and value in the conversation.

This is all it requires. If the conversation alludes to it, mention other ways in which you can provide potential value as well.

So long as you do this in areas where you can expect to find high-value people (the gym, a café in the city centre), you’ll connect with the right crowd.

Who knows, the next person you talk to just might change your life.

I came to know all the creators and entrepreneurs I’ve mentioned in this article through speaking to one person at the gym who I recognised from YouTube.

Telling him about how I had been producing videos for years led to me filming him some B-roll, and then to being introduced to his network of creator friends.

You can see how this would lead to exponential growth. Every one of these people who I’m now friends with could put me in touch with ten new people who have skills and wisdom to offer in areas that I don’t. In turn, these people could put me on to ten more.

What I’ve taught in this issue could be condensed into two words:

Learn and share.

Learn about new things, experience new things, speak to new people and share what you know with them.

We’re stronger together.

Learn something, share it with someone.