Jul 8, 2022
3 ways to build strategic relationships.
“Your name can either be a padlock or a key.”
— Apostle Joshua Selman.
Hello and welcome to this blog, before we go further I would like to ask you a very important question. If you get into trouble today, who can you call and they will answer in a heartbeat?
If someone crossed your mind right now, congratulations you are very smart. I am proud of you.
If no one? That’s okay, that’s why I created this blog post.
What are strategic relationships? They are connections who make life easier for you, introduce you to life-changing opportunities, help you reach your goals, or prevent you from going backward in life.
These relationships are important to human life. Most people think money is the most important thing on earth. It isn’t. Strategic relationships are.
Back story:
In March, a very wealthy woman in my community lost her mother and was going through a rough patch financially. She needed to bury her mother but there was no money. Eventually, everyone she has ever helped, contributed to her mother’s burial. Some bought the food items that were used in the burial, some took care of decorations and drinks. A particular man she helped who is now in the US wired a huge sum of money to her account. Today, she is still in awe at how successful the burial was.
If you are a non-Nigerian reading this, burials are a huge thing over here. There ew a lot of rites to perform which requires a lot of money.
This is not a made-up story because I know this woman personally and saw everything with my own eyes.
Everyone who helped her kept reminding her of how she helped them and they were more than willing to do more.
This is just one of the benefits of strategic relationships.
A strategic relationship doesn’t have to be your friend, it could be your colleague at work or your business partner, it could be that homeless man you always see on your way to work or that old woman who is always in church. It could be that quiet student or that weird-looking neighbor. Strategic relationships are everywhere. Online and offline. You need to build and maintain them.
Here is how;
1. Honor everyone: We make the mistake of looking down on people, maybe because of their educational qualifications, jobs, or physical characteristics. Big mistake. Look down on no man. Smile at that cleaner in your workplace, and call your gateman by his name instead of yelling ‘gateman!!!’ People love to be honored and due to the law of reciprocity, they will reciprocate that honor.
2. Be Kind: Beware of anyone who is only kind to people in high places. Someone doesn’t have to be valuable to you before you show them kindness. Be kind to that stranger. You never know who will help you tomorrow.
3. Offer value: How useful are you to other people? Are you always taking from others? You don’t need to give people money to be valuable to them. You can connect people to jobs you think they might be interested in, you could tag them on a post they will benefit from, be valuable. Offer value and value will come back to you. It’s a proven fact.
I have seen names of dead people make a way for the living. Some people are where they are today because of what their dead grandparents did in their lifetime. So before you act out of line, ask yourself, if I go on with this attitude, will my name be a padlock or a key for myself and my generation?
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