Networking, Why Do It? What Is Networking ?

Discovering that I could network from the comfort of my home in the early days of my business was quite wonderful for me. Not only was I nervous about going out into the world of business networking, I had no idea which networking events would work for me and how much money I should pay for these events. I am a firm believe that market research helps anyone who takes the time to do it. Because I wanted to know how many other professional speakers were out there, especially on the internet, I decided to do some digging. As luck would have it I discovered a speaker who was not only a female, like me, but also offered a complimentary newsletter that might give me some idea what speakers really did and how they did it. I signed up for the newsletter, added an email detailing a bit about who I was and where I was at, and this successful speaker contact me back via email and invited me along to the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers. At this point I had heard of this organization but thought it was way above the level I was at this point in my new business.

That proved to me that you do not have to go out every day into the big wide world to network with people, it can be done in your office, or home quite effectively. This gave me some time to consider all the other networking opportunities out there and also workout which ones I wanted to visit that would be beneficial to my particular business. My purpose in networking was to meet people and create a presence for my self in the local community. I thought if I started small I could work my way to bigger things in time, when I felt more comfortable. My instincts are very good and I knew that networking, especially at the stage I was, would not bring in clients immediately. Networking is great way to make relationships, build on those relationships and eventually create trust. What a lot of people do not realise is we network all the time wherever we are, kit may not always be business networking but it is still networking. Imagine when you are at school and you meet a new friend because you have just moved to that school, you begin by introducing yourself and getting to know each other. It is not always about making a sale. We tend to make networking more difficult than it is, and not enjoy the process. I will tell you more about my first attempt at networking, when I was a guest at CAPS all those years ago, in my next blog.