Have you heard the saying, “Your Network is Your Net Worth?” How about this one by Jim Rohn, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with?”

After writing Blog #6 – My Favorite Tax-Savings Story, I began to think about how I came to receive what I fondly refer to as the $30K phone call from Dave Zook, The Real Asset Investor. I had explored a number of tax-saving ideas, but they all had drawbacks that I wasn’t prepared to live with. Then I got the phone call. Why?

The reason I got the call was because I had spent the last ten-plus years networking and building relationships with a lot of smart and successful people. So I wondered, could I trace my network and the resulting, humble success from its origin to where it is today and really put some facts and data behind this whole networking thing? And the answer is “of course.” Jim Rohn fans will get the reference.

Sometime prior to 2008, my friend Bill suggested I read a book called Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. I promptly bought the book, and then let it sit on my nightstand for far longer than I care to admit. I finally read the book and like countless others was very inspired by its ideas and concepts.

Subsequently, I was sitting at my desk one day with the radio playing in the background and on came an advertisement for a free Rich Dad seminar that was coming to Seattle. I excitedly registered for the event, and on the day I was to attend, my 1992 F150 wouldn’t start. I wanted to go to this seminar in the worst way, so I rented a car and went to the event. And so it began!

You will see my friend Bill (he knows who he is) and the Rich Dad Poor Dad book at the top of the diagram. Going downward from there, are the people I’ve met, the classes I’ve taken, podcasts I listen to, and the resulting investments over the period from 2008 to 2019.

Was all this worth it? Absolutely! I’m a completely different person than I was ten years ago, in many ways. The goals and investment objectives I had back then are different today. Not that money is the only measure of success, but it is one element, and it is easily measurable. Over the same period of time, as my network grew, my net worth increased 5.6 times.

What are your goals, dreams, and aspirations? The bottom line is, the people with whom we associate heavily influence us. Take a look around you. Are your friends and associates moving you closer to or further away from your goals?