You have probably heard the phrase “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” In today’s interconnected society, that rings true more than ever. Your talents, abilities, and experience won’t take you anywhere if nobody knows that you exist. In order to get what you want out of life you need to be resourceful. When networking with other people, the most important thing you need to do is connect with them.
Every day people are constantly networking with other people. They are meeting new people on a regular basis, introducing themselves, and creating relationships. Forming a network of business contacts requires the same skills in developing leads such as required in cultivating friendships, and relationships with others. Networking is generally considered to be a “business thing” that people do.
When some people think of networking, they immediately think of boring events where they are pressured to sell themselves to people they don’t know. For others, it is one of the least favorable things about running and growing a business, but it can be fun if you know the best way to network yourself and your products. Here are some creative ways for you to start networking in a more enjoyable way.
- Get Involved in Your Community: Just stepping out into your community can be a way to network. Try to take up new hobbies in which you can meet with different people with similar interests. As you meet new people and talk with them, you eventually discuss work and that is how you can find people who may be able to help you with your business and vice versa.
- Reconnect With People: While you may have gone down different paths, there is no reason your paths can not come together again. Try to reach out to people you have worked with in the past or were friendly with at one time. By reconnecting with them, there may be an opportunity available to connect and work together.
- Use Social Media: You are likely on social media as much as others, so why not use some of the time to network? There are so many popular networking sites in the present time. For example LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Once you connect with people on these sites then no one can stop you from making connections.
- Reach Out to People Locally: You can do this via emailing people after finding their email address on websites or call businesses to get in touch with them. Don’t take much time of others because as you know everyone is busy in his/her life and no-one has much time. So simply introduce yourself and state the reason why you want to connect.
- Connect With People Before an Event: Instead of walking directly into a networking event, try to connect people online. It feels so much better when you walk in the event and meet with the person you connected with online. This helps you become much more comfortable faster.
As you can see, networking can be a great fun. You just have to find a way to do it, that fits your personality. If you want to connect with more and more people to grow your business exponentially, then use some of these suggestions. By following these tips you can establish a great connection.
