IF IT WERE NOT for some inspirational people that influenced me to enter the world of business, by now I would still be waiting for the monthly cheque from my employer. Not that a job is bad, but that business is better. It gives you the freedom to maximise your potential. You are free to choose what to do, when to do it and how to do it.As you plan to be an achiever in this 2013, don’t forget to surround yourself with the right people. No matter how good your goals are, it’s so unlikely that you can achieve them without support from other people. People are crucial units of the chain that links us to our destiny. God plants the right people along our path; it’s our responsibility to identify them and network with them for our success.‘No man is an island’, goes a common saying. You cannot avoid people, if you want to prosper in life. In career advancement you will need mentors, people to train you and colleagues to learn from. If you are a business person you need customers, who are people. You also need staff and business partners who are all human beings. It is important that you know how to get value from people, but also to add value to them. Personally I have put up a system whereby the people I work with in my business share with me new ideas on a daily basis. They do it joyfully because I have developed such a relationship with them that they feel they are working with me, not for me. What is it that you can benefit from the people around you? Shame on you if you have 1000 facebook friends but you have never sold a product to any of them! How can you be part of a prayer group and fail to get a job from your prayer partners? How can you have 10 business people as your friends and you’ve never gotten a business idea from them? What do you always talk about when you meet? Just soccer and booze?Amongst the people around you, you have a fountain of all the vital knowledge you need in your success journey. From them you can tap information that empowers you to make informed decisions in your life, business or career. Beware! Sometimes opportunities pass through the people you rarely expect to add value on you. If you are a boss, do you always allow or shut down people who try to bring up ideas that differ from yours during meetings? Do you know even your house –help can give you an idea that enables you to solve a life-long crisis?It is so shameful that there are many men in Rwanda and the rest of Africa who are staggering with crumbling businesses and careers but who are still too proud to ask for ideas and advice from their wives or children. They should just see how my wife that I’ve been with for only one year has revolutionised my (now our) business.Bake is the managing director of World of Inspiration & founder of the Authors’ Forum in Uganda