While some might quite justifiably say that we’re deep, deep into the Information Era, those who know a little bit better than that will isolate a specific section of the Information Era and say that we are in actual fact in the Social Networking Era. It’s true – knowledge is still power (or freedom for those who are a little less political in their views), but what kind of knowledge?

If for example you want to find out about a certain product or service before you complete the purchase for it, are you likely to trust user reviews you find on Google or are you more likely to go with the advice that comes from people you know and trust, i.e. your friends and family?

This focus on the social aspect of the Information Era ushers in the fundamentals of the new rules of money, which are very heavily influenced and perhaps singularly driven by social connections.

Networks Hold the Key to Unlocking Wealth

This is in actual fact one of the old rules of money, but its essence has been repurposed by those who are a little wiser to the stranglehold major corporations and capital holders had on traditional wealth-creation channels. I should add that these wealth-creation channels double-up as wealth-retention channels in that if you were to think about someone like a financial sector CEO who has perhaps been in the industry for a decade or more, how many times over has that CEO leveraged those wealth-creation tools which if you personally only had access to them just once, the amount of money you’d make would have changed your life forever?

So to bring things down to the social level – a level which many of us can identify as any form of network we have, this is indeed where one should look if they want to unlock the wealth-creation channels which are all around us. We all have access to a social network which is perhaps comprised out of both personal and professional relationships and that is where the power to unlock wealth lies.

If you want a hold-your-hand type example, consider this; how many of the people you know buy the same product or service? For example, if your network is 600-strong, how many of those 600 people buy at least 1 liter of bottled water every month? Chances are all of them do, right?

There are perhaps many goods and services these people who form part of your personal network buy regularly in addition to the 1-liter+ of bottled water, so if you leveraged this network and assumed the role of the supplier of just 1-3 of these goods and services, that’s easily an extra $1,000 per month or more!

Now, while the example explored above demonstrates how an individual can benefit out of the use of their network to collect money that is already getting spent, if the whole network comes together and leverages the money flowing around between them, they could so easily take over the entire world!