Yes! No? Did you quickly answer yes or no?
If you belong to a professional or trade associations, clubs or community organizations, your professional network is robust and you stay connected to your network, I bet you said yes.
If you said NO, you may have been working hard with little or no time to network. If you had a long commute, worked long hours, worked “head down, tail up”, were engrossed in family, and day to day life without much time to nurture your professional network, you may need to rebuild your network. Or the truth is maybe you don’t like networking and are just gripped with fear about reaching out to build a network.
Either way, building, rebuilding, and nurturing a network does not need to take tons of time, money or energy. It does require doing some basics each week and if you are beginning or rebuilding a network it will take preparation, reflection time and some time to determine what is the best way for you to network and where to network.
There are no “magic bullets” nor is there a “one size fits all” method that works for everyone. There are basics everyone needs to master.
Networking is about talking, connecting, meeting, and helping people. If you this terrifies you, know you are not alone. But if you know you need to network and you had decided to network, you must overcome the fear or at least find ways to deal with the fear until you overcome it to network successfully.
Do your homework and get prepared to network. Decide why you want to network, what you have of value to offer those you meet, and how you can help those you meet.
Why is it important for you to build or rebuild your network?
What value do you offer your network?
How are you willing to help those in your network?
no comment until now