Only focusing on what you are getting out of a relationship especially with growing a business is a recipe for failure. Think about it if everyone is coming up to you and asking for something for nothing in every interaction, wouldn’t it push you away? With all of the highly successful people others are throwing themselves at them trying to get their business. It is like asking someone to marry you when you only met a few minutes ago.

Take time to get to know people and understand who they are. Once you get to know who they are, in due time, you will be able to help them on a personal level and have their contacts in the right moment after trust and rapport is built. Picture yourself as being highly successful and in their shoes, would you give away all of your contacts for nothing after you worked years to decades to acquire them. No, there is no way, you’d give away all of the countless hours of work to get to where you are at. It is about earning and building trust over time. Be patient, realize these are humans like yourself. In the end, everyone will benefit. Make sure everyone benefits and you will have repeat business with long term growth.