The Power of Expanding Your Circle

One conversation can change the trajectory of your life. I find myself writing this blog post as I reached out to an entrepreneur I look up to a lot last week, and it reminded me of the importance of the amazing people I’m surrounded by everyday, regardless of age. Everyone I spend time with everyday has one thing in common, they want to get better and be the best versions of themselves.

Not because the person you meet is going to hand you an opportunity, invest in your business, introduce you to the right person, or magically open a door for you. Sometimes the value is much simpler than that. You meet someone who thinks differently than you, operates at a higher level in an area you want to improve, challenges the way you see something, or inspires you to raise your own standards.

I’ve been an entrepreneur for most of my adult life. I opened Thrive Training Facility in 2012 when I was 22 years old, and one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned since then has very little to do with training, marketing, sales, or even business itself.

Who you surround yourself with matters a lot. I’ve always loved the saying, “Iron sharpens iron.” The older I get, the more I understand how true that really is. Your circle has the ability to influence how you think, how hard you work, what you believe is possible, how you handle adversity, how you treat people, and ultimately the standards you set for yourself. Your circle doesn’t have to happen by accident, you can intentionally expand it.

Reach out to the entrepreneur you respect. Introduce yourself to the person doing something at an incredibly high level. Send the email. Walk across the room and start the conversation. Ask someone you admire to coffee. Invite them into your business. Tell someone specifically what you respect about what they’ve built and what you’ve learned from watching them.

I think too many people are afraid to do this because they immediately start thinking about what they have to offer in return. Why would this person want to talk to me? What can I possibly do for them? They’re too successful. They’re too busy. They probably get messages like this all the time. Maybe they do, reach out anyway, but do it for the right reasons.

Networking shouldn’t be about collecting contacts, getting something from someone, or trying to figure out what a relationship can do for you. The best relationships I’ve built throughout my career started with genuine curiosity, mutual respect, and a willingness to learn.

There’s a huge difference between reaching out to someone because you want access to what they have and reaching out because you genuinely respect who they are, how they operate, what they’ve built, and what you can learn from one another. People can feel that difference.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate that building Thrive has put me around amazing people from completely different walks of life. Entrepreneurs, executives, doctors, investors, professional athletes, Olympians, national champions, parents, coaches, young athletes with huge dreams, and everyday people who have accomplished extraordinary things.

Technically, many of them came to me because I was the trainer or coach. The reality is that I learn from them constantly. That’s one of the greatest gifts my career has given me. Every person you meet has the potential to teach you something. Someone may completely change the way you think about leadership. Someone else may make you a better entrepreneur. Another person may teach you about discipline, investing, parenting, communication, health, marriage, service, or simply how to treat people better. You don’t need to become exactly like the people around you. You take pieces, you observe, ask questions, and most importantly, listen.

You watch how great people handle difficult situations. You notice how they communicate. You pay attention to how they treat the person who can do absolutely nothing for them. You study their habits. You learn from their successes, but you also learn from their mistakes. Then you take those lessons and make yourself better. I believe this applies to every area of life.

If I surround myself with great entrepreneurs, I become a better entrepreneur. If I spend time around great athletes, I learn more about discipline, preparation, resilience, and performance. If I surround myself with people who prioritize their families and marriages, I can become a better husband. If I spend time around people who are constantly learning, challenging themselves, taking care of their health, helping others, and refusing to become complacent, it becomes harder for me to become complacent too. That’s the kind of circle I want around me.

Not people who simply agree with everything I say. Not people who tell me how great everything is. I want people who make me think bigger. People who know things I don’t know. People who have accomplished things I haven’t accomplished. People with completely different experiences and perspectives. People who challenge me to become better without ever having to tell me to become better. Sometimes simply being around someone operating at an extremely high level raises your standard.

There’s another side of networking that I think is just as important. You have to bring value to the circle too. I never want to walk into a relationship thinking only about what I can learn, gain, or receive. I want to know what I can contribute. Maybe I can help someone move better, feel better, or perform better. Maybe I can introduce them to someone. Maybe I have experience in an area they’re curious about. Maybe I can support their business. Maybe I can share something I learned through one of my failures.

Sometimes the value is simply being a good person who genuinely wants to see someone else succeed. That’s how real relationships are built.

Over the years, I’ve become much more comfortable reaching out to people I respect. I don’t care how successful someone is, what their title is, how big their company is, or how accomplished they are. At the end of the day, we’re all people. Send the message, introduce yourself, tell someone you appreciate their work, ask the question, make the invitation.

The worst thing that happens is they don’t respond. Your life remains exactly the same. But what if they do?That email could become a conversation. That conversation could become a friendship. That friendship could introduce you to an entirely different way of thinking. You may eventually do business together, help each other, introduce each other to other incredible people, or simply become two people who enjoy exchanging ideas. You have no idea where one genuine relationship can lead.

I also think this becomes increasingly important as you become more successful yourself. Success can make your circle smaller if you allow it to. You become busy. You settle into routines. You spend time with the same people, have the same conversations, and operate inside the same world. I never want that. I want to keep meeting people who make me uncomfortable with how much I still have to learn.

I want to meet people who have built things bigger than I have, failed harder than I have, taken risks I haven’t taken, experienced things I haven’t experienced, and see the world through a completely different lens.

I also want to be that person for someone else. To me, that is the real power of networking. It isn’t about how many people you know. It’s about who you surround yourself with, what you learn from them, what you contribute to their lives, and who you become because those relationships exist.

Thrive has always meant more to me than the name of my business. To thrive means to grow, improve, become stronger, and continue becoming a better version of yourself. Physically, mentally, professionally, financially, as an entrepreneur, as an athlete, as a leader, as a spouse, as a friend, and as a person. One of the most powerful ways I’ve found to continue doing that is incredibly simple:

Surround yourself with amazing people.

Seek out people who inspire you. Learn from them, support them bring value to them. Introduce good people to other good people. Keep expanding your circle, and never become the person who thinks they have nothing left to learn. Sometimes the next stage of your growth starts with nothing more than having the courage to say:

“It was a pleasure meeting you.”