Any person you meet has got some quality better than you, and there is something to learn from each and everyone you meet, if you are willing to. Networking is about establishing and nurturing long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with the people you meet. Investing in networking and building relationships, both personal and professional will help you grow and succeed in life. Networking will help us gain information from experts, know the trends in the industries, develop skill sets and can in some way be game changers in our life. The more you network with people, the luckier you get. Probably, your network is a set of people who could help you become fortunate.

Let us try and find out as to how, we can start networking.

1. Connect with your own known friends and relatives and start talking to them face to face or over phone to clear your anxieties.
2. Gain courage and confidence and be assertive while asking for help from others.
3. Connect with people with smile and hi.
4. Listen, care for others and find a pause from others before you start speaking.
5. When you speak, speak in terms of the other person’s interest.
6. Do not forget to share numbers and business cards.
7. Remember their names and call them by their names. They feel recognized.
8. Be authentic and be original, do not fake.
9. Always have a mindset to meet, greet and connect to network with a lot of people.
10. Be generous, be a go giver than a go getter, when you network. Remember, what goes around, comes around.
11. Planning and preparation before networking will help us overcome nervousness.
12. Follow upon your network connections through wattsapp, e- mails and other social media.

Story

Carol was a human resource manager who had just received notice from management that the Plano, Texas manufacturing facility where she worked would be closing in two months.   After work, she attended her usual hospital guild meeting with a long face.  Some of her peers inquired.  The fellow guild members did not know Carol’s occupation until that night. One thing led to another and soon six people at the meeting asked her to email her resume because they knew someone who needed someone like her.  Of course, the guild members could vouch for her, having volunteered with her for years.  Ultimately, these contacts led to three interviews and one job offer.

Activity

Plan to network and write down the names of people with whom you have newly networked, this week.

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Quote

“Your network is your net worth “~ Porter Gale

Takeaways

1. Networking is about establishing and nurturing long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with the people you meet
2. Develop and utilize the dozen strategies to build and grow networks.