What is EMBR?

Life is full of possibilities and opportunities. With social media, we now live in global communities. We are not limited by size of local community or lack of information.  The greatest challenge comes from determining who you are and what is important to you –finding the “thing” that inspires you to get up every day and do what you.  The good news is once you do that, it makes it so much easier to process new information. Part of this process is to understand your strengths and weaknesses. You also need to know; who will you need to connect to in order to fulfill your goals. What experts will you need to enlist? What kind of mentor would be inspiring to you? How will you articulate your dreams and connect that to what other people understand?

EMBR stands for Effortless Mutually Beneficial Relationship.  All relationships require work, yet if you invest the time in the beginning to really understanding someone and connecting with them via mutually beneficial goals, you will establish value that both parties will benefit from. Shared value creates reasons to protect and honor the relationship, if you have this, you have trust. When mutual trust is in place, relationships work with ease.

In order to have a EMBR, consider doing the following:

• When you reach out to someone, be articulate and purposeful. Learn about them, talk in their language. Be precise and transparent.
• When you meet someone, listen to their story and ask questions. Find out what is important to them. Be naturally curious.
• Be prepared to share your story, passions and goals.
• Make the connection – State how you can help them, express how you think they can help you and ask them if they are willing to do so.
• Don’t allow follow up to be open-ended, set follow up dates and times.
• Be accountable with your word, keep your promises and back your words up with actions.

Also understand:

• You need to be genuine; don’t fake sincerity, respect or admiration, no one benefits from this…make connections that inspire you not drain you.
• If you feel like you are forcing an agenda, then you probably are. If you are not making a connection don’t force it, ask the other person who do they know that might benefit from what you are doing and offer to make the same appropriate connections for them.
• Not everyone is meant to be connected, don’t take it personal, use each opportunity as a means to perfect your message and refine the list of qualifications you are looking for in another person.

At this point you might be thinking, this seems like a lot of work, how can you say this is effortless?  As you develop this connection practice, it does become effortless. You know and understand who you are. You know your value. You quickly can appreciate other people’s value. Your relationships become stronger. You get a greater sense of confidence and happiness knowing who is in your network and how your participation matters to them.