Why you need to network with the right people to get to the top

When I first came to Britain I had no friends. I didn’t speak much English & was quite isolated in my school, which was the worst in the borough. Then I made friends with an English boy, an Indian and a Greek. The English boy used to make fun of my accent and ended up working in a supermarket. The Indian boy went on to kidnap someone and went to prison. The Greek boy I am still friends with; he moved back to Cyprus. In University, I made friends with a lot of people from all backgrounds and it really broadened my mind and my contacts - hence why I always recommend University to people.

When I started working, I made many friends depending on where I worked. In Harrods Perfumery, I became friends with gay guys and shallow girls! In Currys, I became friends with sales-people. In my early life, I never even knew that "your network is your net-worth", so to speak. When I started my first business, I started networking with people higher up in the chain I was in. Doors opened and I started building a good network of contacts. When I moved to Marbella, my immediate neighbours were multi-millionaires and their friends were billionaires. That’s when I made even better contacts.

The point of this post is, don’t wait too long to move up the chain. Seek people higher up right now and make them your network. Doors will open up the earlier you hang around people you want to hang around with later 🤔. I’ve already talked about how to get people to take notice of you in previous posts - not just in monetary terms. You could be an academic and your dream could be a professorship. Don’t get comfortable with your current network if it won’t get you to where you want. Ditch them and move up. Sounds harsh but life is harsh and the clock is ticking.