When growing a business, revenues and relationships are both important.

It is tough for someone starting out because oftentimes to build trusted professional relationships you need to give before you can take.

And, for mindful giving of ideas, you need to spend time which is a luxury in the beginning days of a startup. And revenues are also top of the mind because you got to keep the lights on.

How do you go about it then?

First, spend time identifying who do you want in your professional life. Then give it time.

Focus on revenues first but when you have the base covered, start investing a day a week or a couple of days every month to thoughtfully give to people you want to build relationships with.

Over time this will add up, or you will have both revenue and relationships and then you’ll be able to build relationships without worrying about whether they will result in revenues. And, this is a good way.