Paper folding explores the physical limits of materials demonstrating to me what I can’t do but the six degrees of separation that underpins business networking not only demonstrates what I can do but tells me that the sky is the limit! Can there be a more powerful way to think about your business?

It’s amazing what you can make out of a sheet of paper and the Japanese art of Origami seems never ending. I have to say that I never really got past the stage of making a hat or a boat and I’m not actually sure whether this was down to lack of skills, experience or the inclination to make things out of paper.

It’s only now that I’m working in businesses that spend an awful lot of money on packaging that I see the benefit in paper science. Many people studied it whilst I was at university and I guess that they are reaping the rewards. You only have to think of the humble tetra-pack and realise just how revolutionary a simple design can be.

But back to when I was a kid and playing at paper folding I always remember one of my friends offering me the ultimate challenge; ” I bet that you can’t fold that piece of paper in half more than 8 times.”

A flimsy piece of paper? I was eager to try Cialis Jelly and no matter how I went about it, sure enough, I couldn’t win the bet. I’m not sure whether it’s a scientific fact or just a general property of paper but I’ve never been able to fold paper more than eight times.

Again, it’s not a scientifically proven fact (this is the segue into business networking!) but did you know that you can meet anyone, anywhere in the world through a chain of six acquaintances?

In other words, consider one of your contacts and think about how many additional contacts they have and if you were to leapfrog from one random contact to another not only can your reach anyone in the world by the sixth contact but the seventh could well be back to yourself.

For this reason it goes under the name of the small world phenomenon or six degrees of separation. It’s also commonly referred to as six apart. So what’s the point and why the comparison to paper folding?

Well I guess it brings together a common thread with the dichotomy of can do and can’t do. I hate can’t do so it really inspires me when I think about what I can achieve and it’s the six degrees of separation that underpins my belief in business networking.

It’s easy to embark on a project blindly when you have an idea and it’s backed up with enthusiasm but as your project drags on and you can’t see light at the end of the tunnel it’s easy to give up. Business networking isn’t and never has been a quick win, it takes time to build up those contacts and learn to know like and trust them and even when you’ve achieved this it still requires a genuine business need in the right niche before anyone can pass you a referral.

To carry on blindly in this situation takes faith, it may take a year or more before you start to see the benefits of business networking. The six apart theory is what kept me going through that lean time and eventually it started to pay off, not only restoring my faith in business networking but really allowing me to nail my colors to the mast and say that I’m convinced it works.

To be fair, even in the lean times I was still getting new business networking skills so looking back it was a great learning experience too.

Author Bio: Peter Nash is now a serial networker and sharing Business Networking Skills and Business Networking Tips and Tricks is now Peter’s passion in life so that more people can benefit from this cost effective way of marketing you and your business.

Category: Business
Keywords: business networking skills, six degrees of separation, six apart, business networking,