Hello.
My name is Kyle Lacy and I’m a recovering networker.
There was a time in my life when I couldn’t attend enough networking events. I would attend four, five, or six events a week. I would have piles of business cards on my desk. They were all begging me to be entered into the CRM (or excel… let’s be honest).
There was a time when I loved meeting people and then life happened. Business became extremely busy because of all the “networking.” Marketing and branding helped bring people in the door and projects started.
I stopped meeting new people. At the time… it was a great idea. I didn’t have the time! However, I have discovered something extremely important in the past couple of weeks.
You can never meet enough people. You should never sit down and think, “Hey. I’ve met everyone. This is awesome. I’m going to retire.”
I’m never (again) going to be the rabid and crazy networking fiend. I’m not going to attend many networking events. However, I am going to be more proactive at meeting people. I’m going to use LinkedIn and be introduced to people who I can learn from.
I’m also going to be more proactive about strengthening my “old” relationships.
I am going to set aside time everyday to strengthen my core contacts and meet new ones.
ARe you?
Tony Piazza
Right on, Kyle! To me, it boils down to quality, not quantity. I'll take 1-2 deeper, more meaningful new contacts over 5-10 people with whom I shook a hand and got a business card.
kylelacy
I agree!
Hazel
EXACTLY the conversation I have been having with myself and my coach. In the process of writing a book and other activities, I stopped networking. I thought the same thing you did, I know enough people. What I realize is that while I know a lot of people, I have to develop those relationships and I have to keep adding people to my network to add value to my network.
Today, I am committed to being strategic and focused in my networking activities. Spending time developing trusted relationships, and adding others in a constructive manner.
Good post Kyle and right on target. Thanks looking forward to reconnecting with you.
kylelacy
Absolutely. I am going to love our meeting. Much fun is to be had by all!
Kenan Farrell
I'm extremely thankful for Twitter and FB…I can't imagine how I would have both met and remembered so many people otherwise. I suppose the old-fashioned way…by hiring an assistant to remember everything for me. My day-to-day networking would have me talking mostly to other lawyers (gross), clients (cool) or prospective clients, but now I get to communicate with people from a wide array of industries, locations and interests. Particularly on Twitter, I interact with some people exclusively by interest (@CSPANWJ viewers, #trademark, #copyright, #Wikileaks commenters). Sometimes I'm concerned it comes at the expense of spending time with loved ones (sorry, Mom) but I'm close to achieving a nice balance.
kylelacy
Balance is extremely important but extremely hard to do. I don't know if I have actually reached a balance.
James St. John
It is so easy to fall into the trap of letting your busyness negate the need to relate. I find myself in a vicious cycle, at times, trying to balance networking with "working." When, actually, networking is an integral part of our work, isn't it? Thanks for the reminder.
Brittany Morse
I've definitely felt the pressure to network more, but sometimes felt it was at the expense of spending time with friends, family, and strengthening my current/"old" relationships. While networking and building new relationships is certainly a necessary and important part of business, those contacts mean very little if you don't take the time to nurture the relationships!