Building Your “A” Team

Networking and building friendships is the name of the game. With the help of a some friends in the last year or so my network has expanded exponentially. I bring up this point because Vinh who writes Miles Per Day is correct in building the “dream team.” If you haven’t noticed, many of the manufactured spend tactics have gone “underground”  and it will be tough for you to find unless you either have experimented it yourself or someone in your network told you.

In the last couple of months, I was told from a couple of people that I have an impressive network because of all the people I know. It’s not impressive, it’s just knowing the right people at the right time and remembering everyone’s expertise. I saw a post from a friend on Facebook who lost his job because they closed his location. I connected with him someone that we knew as well as a few roles that would fit him and he was eternally grateful. You know who has an impressive network? @saianel and @esthery.

Your Team

The New York Times published an article that it’s more difficult to make friends after 30. Being involved in the travel hacking community I can tell you that it doesn’t matter how old any one is because everyone makes friends quickly and easily so you need to go out there and connect.

Long time readers will know that I have been reselling products more than gift cards. Gift card churning is still a great way to earn credit card points because it’s all done remotely and anyone can do it. I happened to stop because I want a new challenge.

In the course of researching ways to juice a deal and remembering everyone’s expertise. This helps me improve my game and theirs. I reached out to a few people and asking them to fill in voids in my game plan.

For example, there are folks who are doing money orders and VGC and their cost per point is quite high. I was offering a way for them to buy me gift cards and I will buy it at a discount from them. They keep the points, I get a discounted gift card that I know will be good. Yes, I will miss out on credit card points and a discount, but I can also avoid a situation like Matt where he will not use Raise ever again.

You don’t need to be a blogger to connect online. It’s like making friends in real life. If you hit it off in a certain topic, just chat with them about it. If you want to break the ice quickly: tell them your insights and advice. Or you can ask them for their insights or advice. Either way, you need to talk to someone to build a connection.