My original post was over 2,000 words. How to Surround Yourself With a Network of Amazing People. It outlined all my tips and tricks for knowing everyone under the sun, and more importantly, how to get everyone to know you. It was my own 2.0 version of How to Win Friends and Influence People. A blog with over 400k monthly readers, 20,000+ Twitter followers, one of the original members of the Young Entrepreneurs Council, and a kick ass group of adventurers / entrepreneurs who are traveling with me to across three different countries this year….blah blah blah.
I tore that sh*t up.
As Brent Beshore said, You Have Fewer Than 20 Friends. The ones that really matter are the ones that I have fun and accomplish things with. In the age of living vicariously through Facebook “friends” posts, I’m here to tell you that all you really need is your core group of people who are f*cking awesome.
Realize that your CORE Relationships are the Key to Building Success
When it comes to building a life for ourselves that is different, we can either spend time with people who accept the status quo, or we can build relationships with those who don’t. Surrounding yourself with others who see a world with greater possibilities than society tell us are possible is the key to creating something bigger than ourselves. No single person can create the world they want on their own. To do this we need to build relationships with lifelong friends who embody the same passions for living different, learning, and creating. Creating a life that is different is best enjoyed in the company with other amazing people.
To me, it’s all about motivation. Think of your friends. Are you inspired when you get off the phone with them? Or do you feel drained, like they are doing the same old thing, and are stuck going nowhere? Personally, one of the most amazing things about my life is that I can call up any one of my friends and get off the phone feeling re-engergized and ready to take over the world.
If that’s not good enough for you, how about a group of friends who you can call when you have a big idea. You need people to tell it to you straight: your idea is crazy, it probably won’t work… so yeah, go for it! You need group of friends/advisors who are smarter than you. As an entrepreneur, these are the people who keep you sane, and these are the people who pump you up, and these are the people who make life worth living.
Here’s the Deal
Plain and simple, we are creating this with Under30Experiences. After over three years of conducting interviews with the most successful young entrepreneurs in the planet, and creating a community of awesome business owners who contribute lessons learned from their ventures across the world, we’ve decided it was time to really get to know each other.
Step 1: We Jumped off a Waterfall in Iceland
Want to really to get to know each other? Here’s an icebreaker (no pun intended), bring a group of entrepreneurs to Iceland and have them go canyoning in 3*C water. This is exactly what we did on our Startup Iceland Adventure this past year.
Think of who your closest friends are right now. They are probably people who you spent your college years with, played sports with, or took grenades in the trenches of the business world with. All in all, these friendships were formed with like-minded people making memories, and having experiences together.
Do Awesome Stuff with Awesome People.
Let’s go. Stop being boring. Stop complaining about how cold it is this winter. Stop having lame friends.
If you’re already cool, then come to Nicaragua for our Microfinance Surf Camp. Travel to an amazing part of the world, experience how micro-entrepreneurship is re-building the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, and learn to surf and have adventure with unbelievable people. Forbes named Under30Experiences one of the 4 Professional Retreats to Explore in 2013, and called us a “Summer Camp for Adults”. You can use the best summer camp registration software if you want to start something like this yourself.
We’re building something special here, and we want you to be part of it. If you don’t RSVP on February 6th, that’s okay too. You’ll miss this one, but we’re in this for the long term. Building relationships and traveling the world is something we plan to do for the rest of our lives.
…and remember, life is all about the experience.
