The Basics of Networking - A View From Several Great Bloggers

Today I want to comment on some great blogs that have recently offered some great insights on networking. The first is Pimp Your Work which is a blog I wasn't familiar with until recently. Today's post is an interview with Jason Alba, founder of Jibber Jobber. One of the author's take-aways from his conversation with Jason is very insightful,

"The people you work with walk out the door everyday to work for other companies or start businesses of their own — and your relationship walks out with them. Maintain relationships with people who leave your company. You’ll be glad you did."

The author is absolutely right. One of the most natural and simple ways to build a network is simply to stay in touch with the folks you have worked with in the past. I can't tell you how many times I have had conversations with former co-workers who would tell me they weren't in touch with any former co-workers except for me. And, the reason they were in touch with me is that I had made the effort to reach out to him/her. Stay in touch with former co-workers as a way to build your network!

To supplement this lesson you should also read Steve Harper's blog entry for last Friday, January 19th in which he discusses the care and feeding of your network. Steve has a great insight in this blog:

"I believe that referral relationships only continue to grow and prosper when both parties add something to it."

I think that Steve's message can be broken down to 5 key elements of networking:
(1) You have to take the time to stay in touch with people (such as former co-workers)
(2) You should have ongoing conversations with your contacts
(3) You should really listen to their needs
(4) Offer assistance to your contacts when you can
(5) Your contacts should reciprocate by offering you assistance when they can

Does that sound like a lot of work? It does if you think about networking as work. I look at each new contact that I make as a new friend. I think it's fun to find out what my contacts' business interests are and how I can help them get what they need to succeed. Sometimes, yes, it can be time consuming but it's well worth it - good relationships are worth the effort. I am still in close touch with friends from college and co-workers from my first post-college job who are now trusted business colleagues. In fact, several years ago I helped a friend whom I met for the first time in the third grade to land a job that changed the direction of his career. He is one of the most loyal and helpful friends in my network.

Let's face it, we all have some down-time during our workday. Use your slow times wisely and reach out to your contacts whenever you can make the time. Another of my favorite bloggers, Scott Ingram, wrote a great post about making good use of your time to network in a blog post he wrote last week. Please read his post...it offers some great suggestions about reaching out to your network when, for example, you are snowed in during the winter as we were in Austin last week.

I hope these tips are helpful to you. I think all of the bloggers whom I have referenced in this article have much to offer in terms of tangible suggestions for building, maintaining, and benefiting from your network. So, read their blogs and, above all, have fun building your network of friends and colleagues!