Money Doesn’t Solve Problems, People Do
Start Building Your Social Capital Now, Before You Need It
These days, online success is as dependent on “what you do” as “who you know.”
In our current people-centric world, quality speaks louder than quantity: quality of work; quality of character; and quality of connections.
Building a large personal social network, or rather “an active community of loyal followers” who are ready-and-willing to support projects you endorse without even asking many questions, is the coveted end-goal of many wanna-be social entrepreneurs.
This coveted personal-network-of-connections definitely takes time to build. And, I would even go so far as to assume that those who already have solid networks of their own aren’t even too concerned about competition from (or losing their supporters to) up-and-comers.
Regardless of whether or not currently-reigning “Social Kings” or “Social Queens” even believe that newbies have the fortitude to do the necessary networking-leg-work needed to compete with them socially, there seems to be more than enough potential-audience-members to go around that no one needs to worry about a shortage any time soon.
At the moment, I would say that building personal social capital does not appear to be a zero-sum game, where someone has to lose for someone else to gain; there seems to be plenty room at the top, especially in niche environments.
Yet, while the barriers-to-entry for this uber-networking game are super low, that doesn’t seem to make the game any easier to play or quicker to win.
You Can’t Buy Social Capital
I understand that social capital operates like a bank in the sense that you can only make a limited amount of withdrawals before your resources get depleted and you need to slowly build them up again.
While you can extract money from your social capital, either in the form of sales or funding or related supporting resources, conversely, you can’t buy social capital with money. You can’t pay people to be your “friend” or “supporter.”
Thus, social capital is becoming an asset that is potentially more valuable than any physical or financial asset.
Two stats that support the value of personal-people-connections include:
- According to Indiegogo, it is estimated that 26% of a crowd-funding project’s funding should come from the project creator’s personal connections. No network, no chance of hitting your goal.
- According to a fellow writer on Medium, who writes under the Collection: “A Year Of Giving Dangerously”, there is a 30% Rule of Crowdfunding, the hurdle over which your odds of achieving 100% funding turns totally in your favor. No network, no chance to win.
Similarly, the key metrics for web-based business success are also people-based, not money-based, namely:
- There is the general rule-of-thumb that you should expect on-average a 2-year gradual build for an email list to grow to the size that you can earn a living-income from it.
- And, there is the 1,000 true fan benchmark as well.
Bottom line: People metrics are as important as any financial metrics on any online company’s business-monitoring dashboard.
People Make The Decisions
Yet even when financials remain the central focus of a business plan, it is important to realize that it isn’t the money per se that makes those businesses or projects a success. It is the quality of work done by the people who run and support that business that make the difference.
- It is people who put that money to work.
- It is people who carry messages better than any paid ads can..
- Money doesn’t empower or educate, people do. In schools, money buys book-bag racks and cleaning supplies, but people teach the value of good organization and good hygiene.
- Money doesn’t choose whether the big guy or the little guy deserves to have their independent work seen by mainstream audiences, people do.
- Money doesn’t write or execute successful crowd-funding projects, like those on DonorsChoose.org, people do.
Maybe we shouldn’t assume that building social capital is reserved for a select few to hoard.
Building social capital is a skill we can all benefit by mastering.
And, the best time to start building social capital is before you need it. Why not start building yours today?
Donation Request: I am writing this series as part of the 4-Hour Chef Giveback Campaign contest. Would you consider donating a dollar or two to my DonorsChoose.org Campaign page, found by clicking through this link today, thereby supporting teachers in K-12 classrooms that are working to create a positive learning environment for their students in the best way they know how?
Thank you in advance for considering what resources you have available to contribute. :)
Photo Credit: title=”Paper money, extreme macro” by kevin dooley, on Flickr
