Leveraging Your Relationships to Make Money

This is a guest post by Andy Burger, who offers up some advice about using existing relationships to further your success. You can find more of his commentary about personal finance, the economy, and the stock market at www.purpandmoney.com.

How many times have you heard, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know?” If you’re like me, you’ve heard that phrase uttered more times than you’d like because, well, you don’t know anyone.

In the financial world, whether you are a high level hedge fund manager, or a personal banker, still zit-faced and fresh out of college, networking is a necessity. If you want to be uber-successful that is. Even if you are unemployed, knowing people in the right positions makes a huge difference in landing the job you want. Look at the blogging world, it’s a good example too… I’m lucky enough to be acquainted with Kyle here at Amateur Asset Allocator and because of that relationship I’m guest blogging, and now you folks can visit my site at PurpAndMoney.

So what do you do when you don’t “know” anyone? i.e. you have no one to turn to that has the ‘power.’ No one that can shake their magic wand and say bippity boppity… uh, hired! The best thing you can do is start hitting up your friends, your family, your mailman, your bus driver, anyone you have regular contact with. If you start letting them know your goals, and if you are kindly persistent in reminding them (without being completely annoying), they will subconsciously be thinking of you as they go about their lives. It’s this level of passivity that will help you because they just might bump into someone looking for your exact skills and instinctively mention your name.

I’ve been a commercial real estate appraiser for the past four years. Before that, I worked as an accountant for six months at a custodian firm for mutual funds, and before that I was in college. While working at the custodian firm, I had lunch two or three times a week with my office-mate and his girlfriend. She happened to be working for the company I am with now. Over several months, and dozens of peanut butter and jelly lunches, I probed her with incessant questioning about her job. I really liked what I heard and applied when I noticed they had job openings. My resume was short – less than six months of professional work history – and I had absolutely no training in appraisal, so I felt my chances were slim. My friend’s girlfriend mentioned she knew me and put in a good word after my interviews. Two weeks later, I had a new job.

The point is, no matter how much or how little experience you have, the relationships in your life can be infinitely more valuable. Use your closest relationships to give yourself a start (I said use, not abuse) and eventually, you won’t need to use them at all.