Are you using the latest online social networking techniques?  According to the book I’m currently reading, we’ve gone through four stages in our computer world.  In the 70’s, we had the huge expensive mainframes.  Only the smartest people were using them, but this began to change the world.  In the 80’s, the PC came out, much smaller, portable and affordable.  That power was now placed in our hands, as we were all going out to buy one.  In the 90’s, all our PC’s could be connected to this thing called the Internet, which literally flooded the world with knowledge and information.  We were overwhelmed with choices, and it became difficult to choose the best source.  There was too much to consume, and we became more skeptical of all the overwhelming advertisements.  So during the current decade, people have initiated ways to connect with each other over the Internet, in order to share useful and objective information about information.  We hook up in groups with other people who have similar interests, and we trust their advice.  They are not just our closest friends, family and co-workers, as our access was limited to in the past, but they are hundreds if not thousands more, of what I call your weak ties.  Online social networking takes all the powerful information out there and disseminates it through billions of people who join with all the people they know, trust, and share interests with. 

We are getting more valued advice from our networks, as we become less convinced by advertisers directly.  Specific information about information sources is exchanged within the groups we choose to be members of.  And because these groups are large in numbers, it represents a powerful learning tool, even more so than what you might get from your closest friends, family and associates.  Imagine three concentric circles, each larger to surround the last.  At the center is your hot market or your “strong ties”.  These are the people you personally know and trust, but the numbers are relatively few.  The second circle is your warm market, and the third circle is your cold market.  The Internet is pulling people from the huge cold market, and pulling them through this filter closer to you to become your weak ties.  The Internet is organizing those people based on interests and connections into groups, whereby you can get the most customized information, opportunities and solutions.

This means your network will represent your net worth.  Soon your entire net worth is going to be based upon the people you know, even just casually.  There are three primary types of capital.  Financial capital is the money you earn as a capitalist.  Internal capital is based on your talents, gifts, strengths, and passions.  This is so powerful that I have often taught that the source of your outer capital is based on your inner capital, or what I call your Inner Wealth.  You have the ability to expand your financial capital by building and sharing the talents and passions you were given to make the world a better place.  But a third type of capital - social capital - needs more cultivating, developing and building than any other type of capital you have.  Most people look for ways to directly enhance their financial capital, by learning to manipulate the system for making money.  They study how to find real estate deals, how to do stock market transactions, how to launch web sites, etc.  They also try to magnify their internal capital.  This is all valuable, but the most powerful capital in need of developing is our social capital.

This has been a major AHA in my life.  All the wealth I’ve created has been as a result of social contacts I’ve had, even the casual ones.  They would often bring me real estate deals, for example.  My projects started to develop and grow due to the resources I could pull from my social capital.  Even before the Internet, I was making use of even my weak ties, as our paths would sometimes cross.  While on my honeymoon, when I saved a man from drowning, he then welcomed me anytime to his place in Hawaii.  This became an ideal and inspiring place to write my first book, Nothing Down.  And then I connected with another person I did not know, except through association at our church group.  I learned she was a bestselling author, so when I asked her how to get my new book published, she invited me to a booksellers convention and showed me the ropes. 

It’s important that you not abuse these relationships, but rather to carefully ensure a win/win exchange of value.  If you focus more on giving, the return will more readily come to you, especially when you ask for it.  Anything you ever want and virtually every opportunity is going to be flowing through people.  You must learn how to cultivate these relationships, which may start from people you don’t even know.   You already have your ”Inner Circle”, or the five to ten people that your strongest relationships are with.  But you also have a “Winner’s Circle”, which is the 100-or-so people you know who are winners.  They are successful in some way, such as in athletics, relationships, health, etc.  And those 100 people know another 100 people.  Therefore, if you treat the first 100 well, then 10,000 people will treat you well!  And if you treat these 10,000 well, they’ll introduce you to the 100 they each know.  So within three circles of influence from you is 1,000,000 contacts!  Within a million contacts, you have everything you ever need: money, resources, relationships, information.

I will be explaining how to attract into your life the people with the right kinds of financial and internal capital to bring you the solutions you’re looking for.  First, I challenge all of you to list at least 100 people you know, and start figuring out how to categorize them in a way that might bring forth the power of their social networking.  Next week, I’ll tell you what to do with those categories, and how you’ll build a strong relationship with those people.  I’ll show you how you’ll bring each other everything needed, so that together, you can create some powerful capital in all areas of your life.  Anything you need is available to you through your social network.

That’s all the time I have to share with you today, as I try to keep up with my family on the golf course here in Waterton Park, Alberta Canada.  At this very moment, I am watching a bear cross the fairway….