This is a story about how I paved my way to becoming a Web3 fixer, there is a set of unspoken rules and a certain mentality that you have to tap into, but man… you can lit talk to anyone who’s still alive, kek.

The 7-steps thingy

You’re always a maximum of seven steps away from any node in the open social network. It is common that we fail to reach out to a connection because we pre-decide in a speculative fashion, that the person in question must be out of reach, hence in most cases, we don’t even try. What If I told you: you can talk to literally anyone who’s not dead?

There’s this simple rule (can’t recall where I got this intel from, but I’m not gonna Google it for you), that goes something like “you could talk to the president of America if you wanted to, all you have to do is try”. The content was mansplaining (in a good sense), how you’re only 7 steps away from any contact on the globe and it gave several examples like:

You want to talk to the president. You don’t know him personally, neither you know anyone who might know him. You can forget about it (NYC Italian accent), or you could ask your aunt that works in the passport department. She doesn’t know the president either, but she knows Carla, who once had an appointment with him. Carla, might not have a direct link, yet she is prepared to give you a card with the contact details of the president’s executive assistant or secretary, you get the point.

Basically, apply this to your industry and/or personal network and you’ll be surprised with the quality and quantity of contacts you’ll accumulate. 

Now, obviously, you can’t just roam, calling random people for no reason. Not only this wouldn’t work, but it would narrow your sensitivity to “luck” over time. Eg. you can’t say, “I’m a Karen, I want to meet with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and whatnot every single day and have brunch on their tab”. 

I’m not saying these individuals are untouchable or that no one ever meets with them, but you’ll have to be an equally valuable link to the subject connection. In this case, maybe a movie producer or something they’re also keen on exploring, connecting to, and building a genuine and long-term relationship, not a book sign-off kinda minute.

Mental preparation is 100% of the battle

By actually wanting to talk to specific characters, I managed to meet people such as my favorite artists, politicians, celebs and influencers, top-shelf tech founders and gurus, military players, biotech nerds, quantum information professors, and whatnot. It would feel impossible before I do it, but I know I would never have the chance if I didn’t create it myself.

Keep in mind that you better know what you wanna discuss with each player beforehand or acknowledge you might be risking wasting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You don’t want to bother someone to discuss him or you. Instead, propose something new that involves both of you. This is the ground to build a long-term relationship, and you’ll realize, given time and experience, that you don’t have to consider this person a friend, a business partner, or a boss, or have any expectations of him on a social scale. You don’t even have to meet with him on a regular basis.

Establishing a good connection and never talking to it again is better than not establishing a connection at all, or establishing one with which you talk a lot but nothing comes out of it. You might revisit a connection after years, or it might reach out to you after a decade with the perfect match in terms of synergy.

Always leave connections and workplaces on good terms. No matter how bad things turned out to be, don’t leave yelling, feeling disappointed, or disappointing your connections. Even at the hardest of times, you should be able to tell a partner: “bro I’m out”, or an investor, “it’s not working man”. Tell a friend “this is not the right time to have fun”, or idk even your mom that “hey, I need your help”. Understand the past, move forward, and keep your connections.

You will always know you can rely on these people and these people know they can rely on you, put money, friendship, biz, fam, or whatever aside, as the core value around a fixer’s relationship is honesty, agility, integrity, and privacy, among others. It’s not biz or deal breaker. Friend or deal breaker or whatever.  It’s more about “bro can we do something with what we have today? the past is the past but that’s not who we are.”

Always revise your collection of connections. There might be someone you forgot about who could help you out specifically with what you’re working on now. Someone who you never talked to about that problem of yours but who might be actually able to solve it. 

Keep your links up to date. Doesn’t always have to be biz, even a casual catch-up once in a while, or even once a year for typicalities is important. Updating your connections and getting their update is crucial if you want to always be on point - and on time - in terms of how you could work on something together.

Eg. a connection that was working at a bank, changed position and company, and now works in the regulatory space. If he doesn’t update you or you don’t seek his update, you are not aware he might be the right person to talk to about regulations, or you might think he is the right person to talk to about banking when he’s not at the moment.

Don’t be like water. Be like a swiss knife of high-quality links.

I’ve seen so countless individuals meeting each other and introducing themselves as position holders. Eg. “I am George and I work in finance”. Some of you might save his contact as George who works in finance and he will be always known as that, unless you update who you think George is, obv. by keeping in touch with George. Over time, good networkers are known for who they are as key individuals and of course for the quality of their individual network, but not for their current or previous positions, titles, or affiliated IPs.

You want to know people that can work things out, and not only be there under specific circumstances or for only a specific reason, eg. “if you ever need legal services I am here for you”. Well, that’s a great partner to have, especially when we are in need of legal services, but it’s far from a fixer/networker. A legal advisor, a developer, or a marketing expert can be a node in a fixer’s partner tree.  A fixer/networker can be a legal advisor, dev, or mkt person at some point, but it’s not his main goal or area of expertise. On the other hand, a full-time seasoned marketing guru cannot be an effective networker, and if he does, he specializes in a fixed network of eg. marketing people.

Being a networker is not a position you get paid for, at least not in liquid assets. It is a side quest role you train along your industrial biz journey. You become a networker by trying a plethora of positions in various companies, fields, and domains, effectively building a network of specific individuals that do the same thing. That itself is a long-term payment that couldn’t be bought with money. Time, effort, charisma, ambition, and belief, among other intangible assets, are what you pay to get these links.

At the end of the day, I’ve come to realize that Access > Money. If you don’t have accessibility, you would have to pay for every experience in your entire life. Some of you might even have to pay a subscription in order to remain alive.

If you know the baker, you get access to bread. If you know the blacksmith, you get access to blades. If you don’t know them and you’re convinced you could never know them, you would have to pay your way into accessing bread, or blades, or anything really.

Epilogue

Adjust, don’t be stubborn, or be sure about things. Be unsure, and question everything. There’s always something to be done, and there’s always someone who can do it. Myriad opportunities pop up in everyone’s life every day, and although it’s hard to spot them because you’re stuck in your old mindset, you can decide to think outside the box. You can cherrypick your network instead of passively riding alongside the network that you’ve been appointed to through the social system, a job application, or whatever. 

The networker/fixer is not the only side quest out there, just the one I am actively doing for years, and of which I wanted to share my learnings so far. Once you start creating and leveraging your network consciously, the ceiling of what you consider as possible radically elevates, and naturally what you’re really pursuing becomes clearer and closer to a viable choice.

This is not meant to be encouraging or discouraging content, but rather an angle of possibilities. Choose your own path with integrity  <333

More than happy to connect via Twitter or something, answer any questions, give you some tips, and share personal experiences that might help you with insights sheding light on the nature of possibilities and confrontations with various IRL players, NPCs, and bosses.

Catch you online. 🥰

VVVVV