They often say that if you are trying to be successful in creating anything that sells the bottom line is you have to have a value proposition. What is it that you offer people for investing their money with you as an example? That could be a product that they need to survive or something that saves them a lot of time. This can be true too when making connections with people but I am often surprised at how many see it as a one way street.
This was actually areal example before where I got a phone call from a company that did video editing services where they were looking for a partnership of sort. I was open to it of course and asked them what they had in mind. Literally, their answer was that the partnership would involve me selling their services. Literally that was it. I was just thinking “Okay….and?” Literally that was their proposal where I would essentially advertise and promote them but they wouldn’t really do anything in return. Hey offered a finder’s fee but really that wasn’t a partnership as it was like a sales job.
It should be basic common sense that if you are looking to establish a business relationship of sort then it has to make sense and benefit both people equally.