Cultivate Your Network

To set the stage for the importance of networking, not only from a business view, but from every aspect of your life, please allow me to describe my personal experiences with effective networking. This was a totally low-tech effort for me and my family; there was no Internet or computer of any kind involved. We just recognized the effectiveness of networking at a time when we desperately needed help. Later in this article we’ll discuss some ideas reflecting the innovation in network techniques.

Our family broke apart at the exact time our son graduated from college; he was literally dumped on the street with no resources. My ex-wife landed on her feet, but I was just as bad off as my son. What to do? Use the networks we created through the years. It turned out that our son had a very tight group of friends. One of them gave him a place to stay, fed him, and gave a cocktail party where he met an industrialist who gave him a job on the spot. In my case, I also used a couple of fraternity connections as well as several hunting buddies I had known for a long time. Because of network relationships developed over time, we all came out in good shape. Never underestimate the power or importance of your network.

You may be wondering exactly what is a network? Most definitions say a network is any kind of interconnection between any group of people; it’s really a method of sharing information among people. Networks may be used to accumulate funds from members, or those they know, to accomplish some larger objective, or to use the individual resources for new insight into ongoing or future collective projects. Entrepreneurial networks may be social in nature; they provide leadership capabilities from among members as well as other skills needed to accomplish the objectives of the network. Entrepreneurial networks often become involved in community projects by providing leadership and manpower for community improvement, various reforms, and legislation that tends to accomplish the network’s goals.

Networking is the art of building alliances. It's not contacting everyone you know when you are looking for a new job and asking if they know of any job openings. Networking starts long before a job search, and you probably don't even realize you are doing it. It’s not possible to say, “I need a network to help me accomplish this important goal.” These relationships have to be nurtured in order to be useful. Consider the example in the opening story about me and my son. The college relationships were built and nurtured over many years, from six to 30 years in our case. These contacts would have been useless to us if we had just gone out cold and started to form a network. This can be done, and should be if you aren’t a member of such a group; but they won’t be useful until all the members feel they can trust you and the other members. They will not do business with you, nor will they refer others to you until they are absolutely comfortable around you.

Some activities that you may do when networking are:

1. Attend association meetings like the Chamber of Commerce.
   
   
2. Join Professional groups, like your accounting society—they are good for networking.
   
   
3. While attending your child’s school or sporting events, meet as many new people as you can.
   
   
4. Every community has some sort of local clean-up day; participate in these events.
   
   
5. Participate in local service clubs.
   
   
6. Visit outside meeting times with members of your religious or social groups. The better you know each other, the more likely you’ll be to be able to help each other.
   
   
7. Talk with your neighbors; they may be able to help you in an emergency as well as being a network contact.
   
   
8. Initiate talking with others waiting for the doctor or in a bank waiting line.
   
   
9. Post your message on mailing lists and at chat rooms.
   
   
10. Talk to people waiting in your office or place of employment.

Perhaps the best place to network is right in your own home. You can invite coworkers, prospects, and other contacts to a holiday open house or just for a visit. Your home will establish a more intimate environment for cultivating a personal relationship than a meeting in a public place. Another place that offers the opportunity for close relationships is some local charity. People you meet in a charitable setting will realize you want to give of yourself, and a good relationship may be founded on the act of giving of yourself to help others. Always remember your network is a two-way street. When you ask someone in your network to do something that will benefit you, you must be prepared to return the favor when asked.

You can also use any holiday to network on the Internet. Write a special greeting for your blog and send it to all of those on your contact list. It helps to include a photo or video to help people remember you. Be sure to carry enough business cards with you. They are perhaps the best tool you have; don’t hesitate to freely pass them out to everyone you see. After every networking session, send all those you met a hand written note telling them how much you enjoyed meeting them. Your goal is to firm up your initial meeting by creating the impression of a real professional and, of course, to help them remember you.

New network members must be patient and not expect instant contact relationships. Such connections form over time, and every individual has to earn the respect and trust of the other members before asking them for contacts or referrals. Network participants should create what some trainers call an “elevator pitch.” This is simply a concise summary of your background and abilities; it should be brief enough to tell a complete story about yourself in no more time than it takes to ride an elevator to the next floor.

You may ask, “Why is networking so important?” Consider this. The average person is acquainted with about 250 people. This means every time you meet someone new and develop a lasting relationship where your new contact feels they know you and trust you, your contacts have potentially increased by 250. After you complete this process a few times you will have a very large chain of endless referrals.

Networking may sound like fun and games. While many events are conducted in pleasant surroundings, there is a lot work involved if you do it right. You need always to be connected with your target crowd. Focus on one individual at a time so you are completely aware of what you and your contacts are doing and saying at every moment. Maintain eye contact, listen well and respond promptly when questioned, and anything else that will convince your contact they have your complete attention. This even extends to talking on the phone – don’t try to do other writing or computer tasks while you’re on the phone. Pay attention to what the other person is saying. A lot of people seem to wander off during a conversation; paying proper attention will make you stand out and be memorable, which is your goal. Things you can do to maintain a memorable image with your contacts are:

• Ask questions that will force your contact to think.
  
  
• Do anything to help your contact remember your personal keywords which are:
  1. Your name
  2. Your company name
     
  3. Your business/industry (in three words or less)
     
  4. Your product
     
  5. Your location

It is possible to do some online networking. These are good some reasons for using the Internet:

• Access thousands of discussion groups and community forums covering hundreds of subjects. "Break the ice" before meeting someone in person.
  
  
• Listen, engage, or be engaged as you wish.
  
  
• No one can see you sweat, and you don't have to feel like a wallflower since no one will see you standing off by yourself.
  
  
• There are recruiters lurking the lists to find potential candidates or service providers.
  
  
• Chat Rooms and Web Forums are like your office water cooler.
  
  
• Social Networking Websites are a little different in that they work the "six degrees of separation" concept to the extreme, using the Internet to turn who you are, who you know, and what you know into a monster-sized spider net of connectivity.
  
  
• Mailing Lists are a long-standing communication forum heavily used in academic and research professions.

There are some limitations, however. The most prominent one is best stated by John Chow, a prominent web entrepreneur. Anyone interested in making money on the web should visit his blog, which registers 17,000 on Alexa (extremely good traffic).

John says about Internet networking:
It’s great that the Internet has allowed us to communicate instantly with people from all over the world. However, no amount of technology will ever replace good old fashioned face-to-face networking. Building a relationship is so much easier when you’re looking at the person you’re trying to build a relationship with. And in this business, it’s all about the relationship.

When you stay in touch and develop relationships with people, your business will come to mind first when people need your products or services. This also increases the number of referrals people will give to your business.
There are many ways to maintain contact with people after your initial meeting. Most of these are inexpensive except for taking some time. You must do these things to be a successful networker. For example:

• You can use the telephone.
  
  
• You can send an e-mail.
  
  
• You can send them a snail-mail handwritten note now and again.
  
  
• Better, still, drop in to see them in person for coffee, lunch or a drink
  Remember them on birthdays or other special days.
  
  
• Share a new article or other important item with your new contacts.
  
  
• This shows not only that you thought about them, but also that you listened when they were telling you about their interests.
  
  
• While random kindness never hurts, keep most of your contacts on a consistent basis.

The time and energy spent getting to know your network is an investment with an enormous return. Remember the 250 people you already know plus 250, plus 250, plus...

An interesting addition to the networking idea is the brand tie-in Senator Obama has managed to put together. You can read about this on the Fast Company Website.

 One advertiser says Obama has three things everyone would die for: he’s new, different, and attractive. On top of that he has managed to tap the “millenials,” those people between 18 and 29 who will outnumber “boomers” by 2010, a vast reservoir of people and wealth. This group is susceptible to the strategy called OPEN, for on-demand, personal, engaging, and networks. Obama has used this strategy, along with his commitment to “adaptive leadership” to reach this group. Adaptive leadership allows one to handle problems requiring a shift in community thinking. Here’s a contrast with a visionary: the visionary states a specific plan to be implemented, while an adaptive leader works with their constituents to build a plan together.

Senator Obama has managed to harness all this power by networking on the Internet using the talents of Chris Hughes, a founder of Facebook. Hughes knows no coding at all, but he has mastered the art of social networking, and look how successful he has been for Obama’s campaign. He raises millions of dollars every day in addition to getting thousands of new voter registrations. This indicates to me that all of us entrepreneurs need to get really familiar with Facebook, YouTube, and similar sites. The Senator’s success came immediately with the first caucus in Iowa. We all ought to be so successful. Impressive.
A new form of networking is called “organized coworking.” This is an offshoot of working at home, and CNN says it has spread to many cities. It’s a kind of oxymoron that people who work at home to enjoy relative isolation would want to join a group of like-minded people. In spite of wanting to work alone, many people want times when they have social interaction with like-minded people. These networks provide some of the same things conventional groups offer, that being tips and solutions to your own problems. That’s what a network does.

These coworker facilities use inexpensive space and offer tenants 24/7 use of DSL Internet, WiFi, a kitchenette and hang-out area to meet and relax. Users describe the quarters as “your own space that's not in your living room and certainly not a cube." Most say their productivity has increased and they have a lot of new friends and business contacts.

An organization dedicated to small business networking is called BNI. Its entire mission is to join people from different types of industries in a given area (geographic areas are covered by BNI Chapters), provide a setting for getting them to know each other, and getting their commitment to get to know the others in the chapter and refer business to them as much as possible. They, in turn, will do the same for you. At every meeting, you’ll come away with a business card from every other person who attended the meeting, and you’ll have ample opportunity to let the others know when you have special announcements or special needs. You can find a chapter near you by visiting their Website and you can visit a chapter meeting without making a commitment to join.

The final discussion we have is about how men and women differ in their use of networks. These are the results of a Harvard study you can read about here.
The study embraced networks for advice and resources, and emotional networks providing warmth, praise, and encouragement. Findings were that women have larger social networks for advice and resources. But men, have larger "emotional" networks - the complex of associations that provide warmth, praise, and encouragement. And men apparently profit more from these emotional attachments than women do.

Such a finding is surprising, because men aren’t supposed to be emotional. The study showed men use these emotional ties better than women do. Women entrepreneurs are better at establishing networks of friends, family, and associates, and their networks are wider and bigger than those set up by male entrepreneurs, but the bigger the network, the less the revenues and profits for women. Women entrepreneurs develop large networks, but these associations hurt profitability. The bigger the networks are for female entrepreneurs, the more they seem to drag down revenue growth. Women have big networks, but they include lots of the wrong people, and people who have no useful resources. The researcher speculated women network for the sake of relationships, and men for what the network members have to offer. This study seems to show that in the high-risk, high-speed work of entrepreneurial business, women should seek fewer (and better) members in their emotional, resource, and advice networks.

Maybe this discussion has shown you the importance of networking as much as you can. Even in remote areas there are network opportunities. People separated from one another by distance gather in churches, community buildings, schools, and at various area social functions. All of these offer networking opportunities. And never forget the Internet. If you learn how to duplicate Senator Obama you will be FOREVER VERY RICH.