Quality Counts: Why Building a Selective Network is Essential

Everything is bound to a network in one way or another in the world we live in, but why?

The world revolves around money and laws.

Money and laws are bound structures.

Within these structures, you have individuals.

These individuals are the pawns who are either playing or being played in these structures.

The more individuals you can bind together in a structure, the more it creates a network.

These networks can create new ways of money, laws, and structures.

And then the cycle continues.

It is that simple; a lot of networks work that way, but let's zoom in a bit.

Individuals as pawns who are either playing or being played in these structures.

What that means is that every individual is a network on its own who are bound to multiple structures on its own.

To take myself as an example, I am bound to the networks of a country and the world, with money and laws as their outcomes.

However, I am also bound to a network of friends, to whom I might offer a drink, for example, and they return the favor, with established norms and values acting as our laws.

But I am also bound to work with my colleagues as a network, the company rules and culture as laws, and money as the outcome of my labor.

For the business itself, it is the goal to gain in the entire market, so again, another network.

This can go on and on.

If you have not noticed yet, in this article we are going to talk about the importance of networks and how they can work in your favor.

We will talk about:

• The Network effect

• Define a network

• Use it to your advantage

The Network Effect

To correctly define the network effect before we dive a bit deeper, the network effect means: A phenomenon where the value of a good or service increases as more people or participants use it.

The internet is an example of the network effect.

Initially, there were few users, but now the number continues to grow each day.

Everyone who posts or creates something on the internet adds value to it.

It can also have the reverse effect, if people post low-quality content on the internet, its value decreases.

There are a number of companies that make use of the network effect, such as Amazon, Meta, and Uber.

If the number of users increases, so does its value.

If the number of users shows bad behavior, its value decreases.

If you have a basic understanding of the network effect, you can see it reflected in all kinds of things, even in some sort of social hierarchy.

When you throw a party, people sometimes judge the party on the number of people that are there because the norm is that a lot of people at a party must be good.

An increased number of users adds up to the value, right?

Well, if there were 30 people at that party, 4 passed out and 6 people started fighting, I would rather have a group of 10 friends and a good fun night, but that is just me.

The quality of the users matters.

10 lazy people can do the same amount of work as 3 capable, hard-working persons.

Use the network for good.

If you roll the ball of the network effect and only attract high-quality people (whatever that may mean in your terms), you're good.

But if the network effect rolled out for you and you only attract drug addicts and alcoholics, maybe it's time to reconsider your choices.

Define a Network

Of course, for defining a network, I asked my friend, the Cambridge dictionary, for an accurate answer:

• A large system consisting of many similar parts that are connected together to allow movement or communication between or along the parts, or between the parts and a control centre.

• People that you know, considered as a group whose members exchange information with each other.

To break this down, you can divide a network into two categories: the group, or as I would call it, the collective network, and the personal network.

As a person, you can be a part of a collective network, and then the collective network is also a part of your personal network.

However, the collective network itself would also exist without you.

It is a collective; you can be a member of Instagram, for example.

Your follower base is your personal network on a collective platform.

Without you on Instagram, it would still be a collective network.

Then there is one extra step to think of, and that is open and closed networks.

In your personal network, you have people that you would introduce others to really easily, and you have people in your personal network that are a bit more closed off.

You only introduce people to them if they have a really good reason or if you trust them well enough.

Also, with the collective networks, you have open and closed versions.

Think of communities that you need to be invited to, instead of open communities that you can just join.

I paid to get into certain communities, and that has resulted in me getting in contact with other people with the same interests and ambitions who are further in their journey than I am.

In the end, everything is a formed structure bound to a network, whether it's open, closed, personal, or collective.

Use it to your advantage

A study on the small-world problem hypothesizes that everyone is linked by a few intermediaries.

In an experiment, participants from Boston and Omaha tried to reach a stranger in Boston through their personal connections.

The letters that reached the target had changed hands about six times.

So, the outcome of a lot of research showed that everyone can be connected by a chain of acquaintances roughly six links long.

Why is this important?

Well, it shows that the power of success is people.

How do you get people?

Through a network.

If you have a large network and know a lot of people, you can always get by.

Be conscious of the structures you're in and join multiple networks.

You pay for the people who are not there.

If you stay in the cheapest room of the most expensive hotel, you pay for the people you meet in such a place.

You can add those to your network and link them further, you become more valuable through your connections.

You pay a bit extra for the people who are not there to pay extra in that way it will be worth it.

Increase your value.

A lot of the gigs in sales that I have come from my network. People know people that can introduce you.

I also helped someone get a job multiple times just by knowing people.

Be interested in the people you meet.

Everywhere you can meet people that can be of great value for your life.

Don’t talk too much about yourself, ask questions.

Start Now

To join a network right now, subscribe to this article for some free value to improve your life a bit every week.

If you want to increase the value of your network, share this article with some old contacts of yours to sustain your networks and give them value as well.

If you want more!!

• To connect with me for any type of questions or a quick chat, follow me on Instagram and send me a DM. Click here

• If you want to see more content and learn, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel. Click here

• Follow me on twitter/X if you want some daily knowledge to consume. Click here

• Same here for Tik-Tok. Click here

That's it for now.

I wish you a good day - Job Baltes.