[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/joelrunyon/status/88105216465047552″]
Relationships are what matter.
You can get great things out of a lot of different things, but life is ultimately about other people.
It’s commonly said in the Venture Capital arena that investors don’t invest in ideas, they invest in founders. The best ideas in the world, don’t do anything if they’re not brought to life by people.
Your blog/ebook/guide/book is read by people.
You work your job to do things that you want…with people.
You build a business to have freedom to do what you want…with people.
You invest in businesses…that are run by people.
Governements are run by people…for people.
Churches are run by people…for people.
Hospitals are run by people…for people.
Search Engines are built by people to help people find things.
Social Networks are built to connect people with other people (and sometimes avoid other people).
So if you’re not investing in people, what are you really investing in?
What if instead of buying the latest book, finding a real estate deal or obsessing over the next penny stock, you spent 30 minutes every week over coffee investing in other people?
What would happen?
Excellent, Joel! Something that should be obvious, but is often forgotten. Wanna do coffee? 🙂
When’s the next time you’re in Milwaukee? 🙂
Sort of.. I agree with you and see the point, but as a side experiment let’s replace ‘people’ with profit and see what still works?
Your blog/ebook/guide/book is written for profit.
You work your job to do things that you want… (profit)
You build a business to have freedom to do what you want… (with the profits)
You invest in businesses…that are run for profit.
Governements are run by people…for profit.
Churches are run by people…for people. (I’m not touching this one!! 😛 )
Hospitals are run by people…for people. Subjective..
Search Engines are built by people for profit.
Social Networks are built to connect people with other people (initially, but then mainly for profit)
Where do they get the money? 🙂
Capitalist Greed, Exploitation.. ‘other’! 🙂
My next comment on BIT will be more uplifting & positive, I promise.
Haha, no worries. I’m just saying. People are the ones with money. You can trick people out of money for little bit, but in the end, you still have to persuade those people that there’s enough value in whatever you’re delivering to warrant the exchange of their hard earned cash.
@Andrew Sad but true, even in the hospitals they run for a profit and forget about Hippocratic Oath!
@Joel great post , it say enough about you! I hope more people will follow this 🙂
Relationships make life complete,and no any money can make you feel great as respect you can get from people!
Thanks Jelena 🙂
Totally agree!
Joel, I think you’re spot-on here. Andrew, you raise a valid point but I think it makes Joel’s post all the more important. We get into trouble — as individuals, as companies, as countries, as cultures — when we put profits above relationships. It’s been said before (by the Beatles and other great sages) but it bears repeating here: Money can buy you sex and companionaship but it can’t buy you love.
It’s interesting that the things done for “money” usually fall apart much quicker than the things done for people. Even something as simple as seeing what happens when finance guys get in charge of businesses over product guys. Instead of focusing on the end user and creating something valuable that people need, use and love, it all comes down to manipulating the numbers to produce something that’s passable, but doesn’t really wow anyone. Take a look at the US car industry over the past few years to see that play out in real time.
Joel,
I would say the greatest benefit of everything I’ve done online is the people. The people have done wonders for my life in ways that I never expected. As you pointed out people are the backbone of everything in your life. Without people nothing else matters.
I have the same experience. There’s a lot of other perks about doing things online, but they all come back to the people. If I was just spitting words out to other computers across the internet, I wouldn’t have experienced anything close to what I have by connecting with actual people.
Hey Joel,
I agree. Businesses are built around relationships and not by what we sell.
Especially today, businesses are ran by way of social media. Customers and brands are getting to interacting and exchanging tweets or likes, to succeed in information age business we should be able to connect and build relationships with our consumers.
That’s the main reason why brands have blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook Fan pages or any other social media they can get a hold of.
Relationship matters for success.
Armand Polanski
Absolutely awesome post man. You mentioned Social Networks.. I don’t send or accept a friend invitation unless I know that I’m going to interact with that person. People in facebook have sent me friend request and they don’t ever try to communicate with me… it’s all good and dandy, but if you’re going to be “frieds” with people the least you can do is “INVEST”.
Love this Joel. We often “forget” about the importance of others and those relationships. Thanks for this!
Sure thing Katie :).
I totally agree with you. The people around us are the ones that make life worth living for!
Totally agree.
People drive everything.
However, I think that there’s something to be said for learning to be independent. The desire to connect with people and build a network should never become a need for their approval. And hey, we don’t NEED anyone to be happy, yet thousands of people are depressed about people because they can’t control their emotions.
So while we’re here to help people, I think our first aim should be to help ourselves. Only when we’re helping ourselves can we truly help others.
I think we “need” others in a communal sense (we’re not isolated creatures), but I think there’s a big difference between needing community and feel the need to conform to fit in. I think we best help others by being as true to ourselves as we can be.