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20 Ways Helping Others Leads To Success In Trying Times

Shannon September 5, 2022

There’s a misconception that in order to become rich, you need to be selfish. Most think that the rich got ahead by being ruthless and cold-hearted. While this may be true of someone who was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, the truth is that self-made success is often a long road of networking. According to Jack Ma, the CEO of Alibaba, helping others was the key to his success.

Many other self-made millionaires would agree that thinking how your skills can help other people in the world is often what leads them down the path of success. We all know the world is in an incredibly strange place due to the coronavirus pandemic. People need help from others more than ever now. So here at Self-Made, we compiled reasons why doing so may actually help you become a millionaire.

When you first get started on your road to success, it may be hard to get noticed. Credit: Burst by Shopify

20. Making Others Aware Of You

When you are first starting a business, no one outside of your inner circle knows that you exist. It takes a lot of time and money for good marketing. Some companies in the world spend millions on a Super Bowl commercial. It’s crucial to have a marketing budget to remind consumers of your product.

Getting involved by helping others can lead to success in the long run. Credit: Burst by Shopify

But aside from traditional advertising, a lot of companies choose to donate to charitable causes. Even though it’s a donation spent to help others, it also lends exposure to your company. Think about all of the times you saw a company donating a giant check on TV. Suddenly, many have a better opinion of that brand when they used their money for a good cause.

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When you frequently work with customer you learn what products are the most useful. Credit: Burst by Shopify

19. New Product Ideas

Most brilliant product ideas originate from helping others. For example, the reason why Amazon became so successful is because it helped make people’s lives better. Instead of searching multiple stores for the items they wanted, they could have it delivered to their front door within two days. The founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, says that he was always putting the customer first. In turn, this has made him one of the richest men who ever lived.

Are your product ideas actually best-sellers? Credit: Burst by Shopify

If you’re thinking about starting your own business, ask yourself what product or service would help others. By making someone’s life easier and offering something genuinely needed, people are more likely to buy your product. If you can think of something that would revolutionize people’s lives, you’ll make endless money.

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Helping people is a large part of networking. Credit: Burst by Shopify

18. Networking

Whether you own a business or simply want to grow, networking is essential. Usually, people network at events over a few cocktails. There isn’t much helping at these. However, you can network at a lot of different places, including charity events. This might be an even better way to get to know people in your local area because you can meet someone who also has a similar mindset about helping others.

Try to figure out how networking and helping others can go hand-in-hand. Credit: Burst by Shopify

Remember that networking itself is not going to help anybody. Sometimes, it ends with short conversations and a pocketful of business cards you never use. It’s far better to make genuine connections with people based on mutual goals and interests. If you and someone you meet can figure out how to help others together, it will also help you get a lot farther in life.

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When it comes to business, your reputation is everything. Credit: Burst by Shopify

17. Building Your Reputation

When you help others, you’re establishing a reputation as a good person or business. By donating to a community, you’ll get customer loyalty in return. If you sponsor a local Little League team, they might have your name on their t-shirts. And if you decide to create a scholarship in your family’s name, everyone in the community may associate you with generosity.

Certain professions of people who help others, like doctors, have everything to do with reputation. Credit: Burst by Shopify

When people are choosing where to spend their money, they think about a company’s reputation. If you’re hoping to get hired as an individual, you need to think about your reputation too. By helping other people, you’re establishing you’re a good person who deserves to receive someone’s business.

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Lectures are a great way to share knowledge. Credit: Burst by Shopify

16. Sharing Knowledge

Unfortunately, a lot of people live with the mindset that success is a “secret.” As soon as they reach a certain level of success, they withhold their knowledge to protect themselves from competition. However, it’s actually not a good way to live your life. Remember that if you succeed, you have to put in countless hours of work. Having knowledge itself is not enough to build a career. Even if someone else knew your secrets, there’s only a tiny fraction of people willing to put in the work.

Giving a public speech can help give your knowledge to others. Credit: Shutterstock

A lot of high-level professionals give talks in order to share their “insider secrets” with others. When you are willing to be open and share your knowledge, it makes other people feel comfortable enough to open up to you with the things they know. By sharing information, you can help build upon one another’s experiences and have a better life.

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If your employees are happy, it will help your business thrive. Credit: Burst by Shopify

15. Employee Loyalty

If you run a business, it’s essential to treat your employees well if you want to succeed. Think about all of the times employees went on strike because they weren’t being treated fairly. In the rare instance we hear how a boss went above and beyond to help their employee, it usually results in increased loyalty.

Helping your employees can reduce turn over, and ultimately save you money. Credit: Burst by Shopify

Sometimes, help you give an employee might go unappreciated. This might put you off helping others again. But in most cases, this is going to be a huge mutual benefit. By having a happy employee you’ll have less turnover, which saves you money and time in the long run. It will also help your company’s reputation because your employees will say good things about you.

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Once you understand what people value, it can translate into increased sales. Credit: Burst by Shopify

13. Figuring Out People’s Values

One of the keys to success is identifying people’s values. When you understand what people value, it becomes easier to create products and services they are willing to buy. This is also true when it comes to giving services to clients. It’s vital to understand how your work can help a prospective client, and what values they are looking for.

At first, figuring out what people value can be a mystery, until you begin to get involved in helping others. Credit: Kaboom Pics

Once you understand what other people value, it can help you too. This cuts away all of the help you may think people need but don’t actually find very valuable. For example, maybe you want to start a business offering shoe shines. Nowadays, people don’t actually value shoe shining as much as they once did, so it’s likely to fail.

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By sharing resources with others, you can become stronger overall. Credit: Shutterstock

12. Sharing Resources

Fear leads people to hoard valuable things in their homes and businesses, especially during the current scene all over the world. But when you choose to share your resources with others, you can help someone and potentially get some aid in return. And no, we’re not just talking about toilet paper during the coronavirus outbreak. Resources come in many different forms depending on what field you’re in.

Working together can make you more successful than being alone. Credit: Burst by Shopify

Maybe it’s an extra set of pens or a fresh stack of paper. Sometimes, resources can even come in the form of good information. You might know a great “secret spot” to get some amazing inventory or a vendor that can give a discount. And if you work in an office full of people, working as a team can be helpful for everyone involved. Don’t be afraid to offer up value to someone in the process of networking.

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If you help someone else, they might return the favor someday. Credit: Burst by Shopify

11. They Might Return the Favor

We touched on the fact that if you share resources with others, they might be willing to do the same for you in return. But you should never do favors for people with the expectation they will do the same. Treat reciprocated favors as a surprise, rather than something you must do as a quid-pro-quo. Helping someone is often a thankless job, but it’s worth it in the long run.

Helping friends with favors will bringing you closer. Credit: Pexels

If you are frequently helping someone, they’ll probably be glad to do something for you when the moment arises. And if you discover that you are spending energy to help someone but they never do anything in return, it’s a sign they are using you.

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Helping others can put you in front of new opportunities. Credit: Kaboompics

10. New Opportunities

Work opportunities are few and far between, especially during a recession. Many jobs, connections, and resources are kept secret. But when you choose to live a life of helping others, you are most likely to find out about new opportunities more than someone who is only helping themselves.

When you work hard and stay honest, new opportunities will come your way. Credit: Kaboompics

No matter what field you’re in, there is probably a Facebook group for it. If you join job boards, you can share opportunities when you hear of them, and others will do the same. You may be able to benefit from sharing opportunities with one another, even helping a stranger.

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Giving and receiving feedback with co-workers can be helpful. Credit: Pexels

9. Giving and Receiving Feedback

One of the best ways to help someone is to give them honest feedback. It can help them to improve their skills. Without knowing an issue exists ahead of time, it’s possible someone could keep making the same mistakes. It’s kind of like walking around with spinach in your teeth, but no one has told you. If you’re willing to receive constructive criticism in return, this feedback can also help you.

Be careful not to give feedback when no one asked you for it. Credit: Burst by Shopify

Of course, you shouldn’t give advice or feedback unless someone actually asks for it. There are far too many people trying to offer advice when it wasn’t asked for, and it can turn people off. Remember to be mindful of your timing when you give people advice.

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Mastermind groups can help keep you on track with your goals. Credit: Pexels

8. Mastermind Groups

A “mastermind group” is a group of people who get together to support and encourage one another while staying on track. This is useful for aspiring entrepreneurs because it helps keep them accountable for their goals. For example, if you are an aspiring YouTuber, you might enter a group saying that your goal is to gain 100,000 subscribers before the end of the year. You’ll have to give a list of tasks you need to do in order to achieve that goal.

Sometimes, a mastermind group might just be with one other person. Credit: Burst by Shopify

The members of the mastermind group hold one another accountable and ask about your tasks. They might ask questions like; What have you accomplished, and where have you failed? Why do you think it isn’t working? Is there something more you could do?

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Social media influencers share their opinions online. Credit: Kaboom Pics

7. Becoming an Influencer

There are several influencers who became famous by essentially helping other people. For example, famous tech reviewer Marques Brownlee makes videos where he unboxes products and gives an opinion about its features and price. He helps others by giving an in-depth rundown of an expensive product. This may help someone save time and money because they realize it’s best not to buy that product. In turn, he has become famous from his helpful advice, and is now considered one of the biggest influencers in the world of tech.

Are your social media posts helping others? Credit: Kaboom Pics

Influencers provide entertainment for people, but the vast majority of them became rich and famous by offering help to others in some way. People are often looking for reviews, opinions, and information that they can’t get anywhere else. So if you’re interested in becoming well-known on social media, ask yourself if your posts are helpful to others, or if they’re just a way to show off. People who focus on informing others are the ones who last a long time instead of being a flash in the pan.

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Helping your teammates at work can bring everyone up at the same time. Credit: Pexels

6. The Joy of Teamwork

Sophia Amoruso, the CEO of Nasty Gal, started her multimillion-dollar fashion company out of her apartment by reselling clothes on eBay. This was a task that she could have done on her own by photographing the clothes on mannequins, but she chose to bring in real models instead. Her friends were beginning their modeling careers, so she exchanged posing for photos in her clothing for free food. Those photographs also helped give her friends modeling experience and a portfolio of work. As a model, it’s a big deal to get photographed in clothing, so it helped their careers. Helping others doesn’t always have to be one-sided.

Working together on a project can be rewarding. Credit: Shutterstock

In Amoruso’s case, both she and her friends were got out of the deal. She got professional-looking photos with models, and her friends gained modeling experience. Ask yourself what you could offer to people as a way to gain experience in exchange for cheap work from someone else. This is also why companies hire interns, who work for free in exchange for gaining experience and references. But don’t take advantage of someone’s willingness to work for free. Act as a team, and treat them with respect.

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Helping others will build up good karma. Credit: Shutterstock

5. It Builds Good Karma

Karma is the belief that all of your actions have consequences, whether they are good or bad. For example, if you spend your life doing terrible things to people, it will eventually come back to bite you. Maybe your particular religion doesn’t believe in Karma. But it really does help to have this mindset, because it keeps you on track when it comes to treating others well.

Depending on your faith, you may or may not believe in karma. Credit: Shutterstock

When you help others, you are building up good Karma. Even if it takes a very long time for your good deeds to pay off, it eventually will in the long run. When you begin to look for signs in the Universe, you can make connections and discover how your ability to help others eventually paid off for you in the long run, and how greed, lies, and deception have negative consequences.

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When you’re looking for a job, it’s important to have good references. Credit: Shutterstock

4. Having Good References

Many jobs and graduate school programs ask you for both personal and professional references. These are used to give a new employer an idea of what kind of person you are. People who are lazy and selfish typically don’t have many good references, and will therefore be stuck working in the same position for years at a time.

Do you think you have a good resume and letters of recommendation? Credit: Shutterstock

Helping others makes you a good employee. This could come in the form of giving great customer service, meeting your deadlines, staying overtime, or helping out coworkers. Managers, professors, and business owners recognize this, and many of them will make sure they put in a good word for you. In many cases, it’s the least they can do to return the favor.

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Helping others with introductions will build good karma. Credit: Shutterstock

3. Giving Introductions

Far too many people make a promise to introduce you to someone, but never follow through. Instead of talking big talk, you should walk the walk. The more people you work on introducing to one another, the stronger your professional network becomes. No matter who you are, you could benefit from this. Some business experts believe you should be doing several introductions per week.

Always be working on networking and introducing people to one another. Credit: Shutterstock

However, make sure that when you advocate someone to a friend they actually deserve an introduction. Your reputation is on the line whenever you give a professional recommendation. If things go wrong, your colleagues may not trust your opinion anymore. So be sure that you actually know someone well enough before doing them a favor by putting them in touch with your contacts.

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The mentor-mentee relationship can be rewarding. Credit: Burst by Shopify

2. Mentorship Can Be Rewarding

In most articles giving advice about success, they always say how important it is to find a mentor. The only trouble is finding someone who’s willing to give you free advice. Not everyone is willing to be a mentor, because they know that their advice is valuable. They might want a fee for their time and information. However, there are plenty of people out there who can attest the mentor-mentee relationship is rewarding.

Becoming a mentor can be a great experience. Credit: Burst by Shopify

Once you’ve achieved a certain level of success, you might feel tempted to share your knowledge with someone younger. This is especially true for people who feel inclined to teach, and somehow be responsible for the success of someone else. The mentee can also be of value to the mentor because they can share fresh insight into what the younger generation cares about. This insight could keep your company fresh instead of letting it grow stale and outdated.

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When you help other people, you will find that you become.a happier person. Credit: Shutterstock

1. Feel Good About Yourself

Last and certainly not least is that helping others makes you feel good about yourself and will make you a happier person. Think about the times when you gave someone an amazing gift, and how their face lit up. It feels amazing to help other people, because it makes you feel like a good person. When you only think about yourself, it can be isolating. Even if you get the things you want, it’s lonely not to have anyone to share with.

Participating in community service helps you feel like a good person. Credit: Shutterstock

We all need a bit of a self-esteem boost every once in a while. When you make it a regular habit to help others, you’ll feel good about yourself and maybe even discover a feeling of self-love. When you’re filled with generosity and love towards others, it’s far easier to enjoy life and excel. So next time you have an opportunity to help someone, please do. You might find your life changes for the better.

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