Who's in Your Room? Why Your Network Decides Your Next Level

The room you're in matters more than just about anything else I could tell you.

Your room is the group of people whose standards you've unconsciously agreed to live by. It decides what you think is normal. It decides what you think is possible. And nobody ever sat you down and told you that.

So put yourself in a different room and watch what happens. What you think is normal moves. What you believe you're allowed to want moves. You'll feel it before you can explain it.

Now if something just tightened up in your chest reading that, hold onto it. That's a good sign...

That's growth showing up before you gave it permission to.

Because here's what I want you to hear before anything else.

If you've outgrown your room, you didn't do anything wrong. You did the WERK. You got good. You put in fifteen years and got so good at the thing that the people around you can't stretch you anymore. Nobody failed anybody here. That's just what happens to folks who keep growing.

And I'm proud of you for that. I mean it. Most people never get far enough to have this problem.

Why does the room you're in matter more than how hard you work?

Because the room sets your ceiling before you ever pick up a tool.

Think about who you actually talk to about your business. Not who you follow. Who you call. The people you tell the truth to about your numbers, about what's got you up at three in the morning, about the thing you're thinking about doing that you haven't said out loud to anybody yet.

Now ask yourself what those people believe is possible.

If everybody around you thinks charging what you're worth is arrogant, y'all, you're going to have a hard time doing it. You're capable of it. You've been capable of it for years. But you'd have to become a stranger to your own circle to try it, and that's a real cost, and it's a lonely one, and most people won't pay it. They don't even know that's the trade they're making.

Your clientele come out of that room too. People refer what they understand. If nobody in your circle has ever hired somebody at your level, they can't send you anybody at your level. They'll send you what they know. They'll do it with love. It still won't be the client you needed.

How do you know you've outgrown your room?

A few signs. And I want you to read every one of these as encouragement, because each one of them means you grew.

You've stopped being nervous. I mean that little flutter you get around somebody operating above you. When it's gone completely, the pull went with it.

You're the one giving all the advice. Every conversation, you've got the answer. Feels good, right? It's also a sign nobody's stretching you anymore.

Your goals got quiet. You used to say them out loud. Now you don't, because you can already hear how they'd go over at the table.

You've started talking yourself out of the level above you. "They're not really doing anything different." Man, I've said that one myself. And I wasn't being analytical, I was protecting myself from wanting something.

If two of those resonated with you, you're ready. That's all that means.

Does this mean leaving people behind?

No. And I want to be careful here, because this idea gets taught wrong constantly.

I hear folks say cut off everybody who doesn't support your vision. I don't believe that, and it isn't how God's asked me to move through this.

Here's how I read it instead. You've been given something. Whatever it is, however you came by it, it was given to you. And a thing you've been given, you're responsible for. You don't get to shrink it down to keep a table comfortable.

So this is about taking care of what you were handed. That's all it is. And when you see it that way, you get to keep every single person you love, because there's nothing in it about getting above anybody.

So keep your table. Keep everybody at it. And go add another one.

Nobody had to lose their seat for me to go sit somewhere else on a Tuesday morning.

How do you change the room you're in?

Start with prayer, start with honesty, start with being willing to be the least impressive person at the table for a while.

That last part is where most folks quit, and I understand why. It's humbling.

Do it anyway.

Then here's the formula, and it isn't complicated.

Go where the standard is already higher. Not a networking event. A room where the people in it have done the thing you're trying to do, and where there's a real cost to being there. Cost filters. Filtered rooms are the ones that change you.

Be useful before you're impressive. Nobody at a higher level needs another person asking for their time. They need somebody who solves something. Bring the one thing you're best at, hand it over, don't ask for a thing back.

Say your goal out loud to one person who won't flinch. One. The number, the year, the thing you actually want. Something happens when it leaves your mouth in front of somebody who doesn't think it's ridiculous. I can't explain that one to you. I've just watched it be true too many times to ignore it.

Close the loop with everybody who pours into you. Somebody gives you an hour, you go back and tell them what came of it. Every time. That's the part almost nobody does, and it's the part that keeps the door open.

None of that is complicated. It's just uncomfortable at the start, and then it isn't.

Who is this for?

This is for the owner who's already good. You've got the track record. You've got the results. You've got a reputation in your space that you earned, and nobody handed it to you. And you're tired of being the most accomplished person in a room that can't take you any further.

I'll tell you what I've noticed about God's timing on this, and it has never once been wrong for me. The room tends to show up right after you decide you're willing to be uncomfortable in it. Not before. Right after.

So go decide. The rest of it has a way of working itself out.

Frequently asked questions

Isn't this just networking?

No, and I'd hate for you to hear it that way. Networking is collecting people. This is about proximity to a standard. You can have five hundred connections and still be the highest performer you actually talk to, which means you're still sitting at your own ceiling.

What if I can't afford the rooms I want to be in?

Then get useful first. That's the door, and it's open to everybody. Solve a real problem for somebody already in that room and expect nothing back for a good long while. That's just how trust gets built, and it's how I got into every room that ever changed anything for me.

How long before it makes a difference?

Faster than you'd think, and it won't show up in revenue first. It shows up in what you're willing to say out loud. Watch for that. The numbers tend to follow inside a year.

Does this work for a small business?

It works better for a small business. The smaller the operation, the more your ceiling gets set by your own circle, because there's no organization around you correcting for it. That's hard. It's also good news, because it means one decision can move everything.

Key takeaways

• Your room is the group whose standards you've unconsciously agreed to live by. It sets your ceiling before the work ever starts.

• Outgrowing your room is what happens to people who did the WERK and kept growing. Nobody's being disloyal.

• Your clientele come out of that room. People refer what they understand, so a circle that's never hired at your level can't send you anybody at your level.

• Four signs you've outgrown yours: you've stopped being nervous, you give all the advice, your goals got quiet, and you've started talking yourself out of the level above you.

• Changing rooms means adding a table. You keep the one you've got. Go where the standard is higher, be useful before you're impressive, say your goal out loud to one person, and close the loop with everybody who pours into you.

  
  

Ready to be in a different room?

If you're the most accomplished person in every room you walk into, and you've started to feel what that's costing you, that's the WERK we do here. Book a Strategy Discovery Call with World Renowned Coaching & Consulting and we'll look at who's actually in your room right now, what it's setting your ceiling at, and the fastest way into a room that moves you.

You've already done the hard part. You got good. Let's go find you a room that knows what to do with that.

God Loves you, I love you, and there's nothing you can do about it. Don't be average, Be World Renowned.