The Power Of Your Very Own Network

Growing up, Thomas Edison was one of my heroes. Most people recognize him as the "inventor" of the light bulb. But what most people don't realize is that his "invention" would have gone nowhere if he didn't "wrap a business around it" by creating a company that strung all the poles, lines, power stations together, and hired the people needed to do all that stuff. Without this network, his invention would have been much less impactful. By the way, that little company he started, you've probably heard of it - it's called General Electric.

Other people who created networks to achieve great wealth are Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart. He didn't manufacture products for people; he created a distribution network that delivers these things to people. Jeff Bezos doesn't publish books; he created an online network that brings theses books to people. If you want to become rich, the best strategy is to find a way to build a strong viable growing network.

There is a rule called Metcalf's Law which states that the economic value of any network is the
square of the number of users.

Think of a network of phones. If you have just one phone, it has no real economic value. If you add a phone, the value of the network goes from zero to two squared, or four. When you add a third phone, the value becomes nine. As you can see, the economic value of a network grows exponentially, rather than numerically.

1 User: Value = 0
2 Users: Value = 4
3 Users: Value = 9
4 Users: Value = 16
5 Users: Value = 25

What this means for you is that the network allows you to leverage your time and effort, and leverage is the secret of true wealth creation. Whether you own apartments, sell your products in major department stores, or own several franchises, you are using leverage - the time and effort of other people, to help create your wealth.

You can't be everywhere at once and there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything yourself. What you need is the power of your own network; a strong, viable, growing network.

Would you rather A.) Earn from 100% of your own efforts, or B.) Earn from 1% of the efforts of 100 people?