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10 Networking Strategies to Enhance Your Personal Success

Guest post by: Linda Cattelan

Article Overview: Networking is the process of developing and maintaining quality mutually beneficial relationships. Learn 10 simple and effective networking strategies to help you climb the ladder of personal and career success.

10 Networking Strategies to Enhance Your Personal Success

Whether you are a corporate employee, self employed professional or entrepreneur, climbing the ladder to success can be easy if you are committed to consistently following a few simple networking strategies in your career.

One of the most important skills I learned as I moved up the corporate ladder that still serves me well today is the art of networking. As an entrepreneur and small business owner, referrals can make up 80%-90% of new business revenues. Networking is both a competency and a process that you need to hone in order to be successful.



Here are 10 of my favorite networking and business tips which I’ve learned throughout my corporate career and I consistently incorporate on a regular basis to help me be successful:

1. Build Your Networking Muscle – Practice networking by attending lots of different networking events. You will meet many interesting people and contacts, some of which will become great clients, colleagues or friends.

2. Develop Thick Skin – Get comfortable hearing the word “no”, over and over and over again. It will build your character and make you tenacious about your business.

3. Be Nice to Everyone You Meet – I had a boss once who used to say “be nice to the people on the way up because you never know when you’ll be meeting them on the way down”. The world is getting smaller all the time. Don’t burn any bridges and be genuinely nice to everyone.

4. Be Giving – Give your time, your advice and especially your referrals. It will all come back to you in positive karma and plentiful business opportunities.

5. Grow Your Relationship Database – You are only 4 or 5 people away from anything you ever want or need. All you have to do is ask.

6. Communicate – Maintain regular and consistent contact with the people in your database. One of my most successful communication tactics is to periodically meet with people in my network face to face. It’s much more personal and much more fun too. When you can’t meet in person then a phone call or personal note works well too. Of course, I’m also on various social networks but other than my Road to Results Newsletter, I try to stay away from canned email communication.

7. Keep it Simple – Look at where you are spending your time and your precious energy. What is generating you the best results, those are the activities you want to continue doing and do more of. Get rid of the time and/or money wasting activities.

8. Build Rapport – Are you a people magnet or a people repellent? What are you projecting outwardly? Make sure others see you as a positive, warm and friendly person they would like to interact with. Make sure your positive personality and outlook is attracting relationships and not pushing them away.

9. Set Goals – If you have a clear vision of where you are going, the rest will fall into place. Make sure you decide on what you want short, medium and longer term and in every area of your life.

10. Access Available Resources – There are so many resources available to support you in whatever you wish to do. Build a strong support team which includes family, friends and colleagues. Read books like The Power of Women United, an inspirational and informative book on networking. Join networking groups in person and on-line. Get connected and stay connected.

Networking is about connecting with people, building and nurturing relationships, sharing information, tapping into the hidden job market, learning about career opportunities, pooling resources and expanding your contacts. Networking is about connecting with people not collecting people. It is truly a life skill whereby you build, nurture and maintain quality mutually beneficial relationships over your career and your lifetime.

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Article Tags: Building Rapport, Building Relationships, Career Building, Connecting With People, Networking, Networking Strategies, Rapport
Referred by: http://www.choice-online.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: Make Friends...Literally BUILD them! - I agree! Networking is definitely the key word here. What does everyone feel about the different Networking platforms out there? Twitter Facebook LinkedIn what are some others?
Success Strategies - How to get the results you want now? Success Strategies and Action Steps I have used are: The Power of Choice Where you are at this present moment, is exactly perfect from the choices you have made. If you want to be somewhere else, you have to decide clearly what that is (your goal/outcome) and create action steps to achieve this. The Power of Focus The book "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, is one of my treasures in my Entrepreneur Library. If you focus on what you want versus what you do not want, your conscious and sub-conscious mind will direct attention to this. The movie, What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, explains this in detail about quantum physics and what we create in our lives. The Power of Commitment This is not about commitment to others. The first step is the commitment, your word, you make to yourself. Accountability and responsibility are additional success strategies and ingredients to creating the success, defined by you, that you want. The commitment to others reflects your integrity, your word and the team you work with. Co-workers, clients, yoru family, friends and community. My Success Acronyn in Success Breakthroughs(c) is: S pecific & self-directed U nlimited opportunities & possibilities C reate powerful outcomes C onsistent measureable results E xperience pwoerful transformation S olution and action-oriented S uccessful habits and outcomes Break Through to Powerful LIfestyle & Performance Choices Moira
Marketing 2012 - I am interested in what works for you in 2012, Social Networking, Search Engine traffic, Blogs, Articles, Forums, what? This is a quote from a 2009 Topic "Twitter, Social Networking, What is your Method? From my experience, social networking traffic (Twitter included) also converts at a far lower rate than search engine traffic. Evan Is this still true, or do you use something that gives us better returns and conversions
Re: FREE Toronto Referral Workshop - Kevin, I'll try to get a copy of the slides and summarize the 14 Strategies. Stay tuned!
Re: How can a social networking site make serious money? - Hi There, It is quite interesting, that some Social Networking do produce an income. I think testimonials are always a benefit to share. See one below: This Social Network has changed my life! Every night is a Friday night and everyday is a Saturday!! Because of it, I have been able to leave the workforce 10 years early.It has given me back my life. Many of us would like to retire early. I am sure there are many more. The point is of focusing with great determination. The ongoing challenge is to stay focussed and not be sidetracked into a newer scheme or so. Also I have read, during this financial turmoil, more people turn to Social Networking for various reasons.


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