My Networking Accomplishments
So without further ado, here are some of the highlights from the fourth week of the Network Challenge.
(1) Let me start out by admitting a failure. I thought I would be able to reach out to everyone in my LinkedIn network this week, but I wasn’t able to. So I will continue to work on it over the weekend.
(2) I caught up with three friends this week, and after saying last week that these phone calls are sometimes awkward, I figured out maybe that it was just my perception. When I brought up the awkwardness to one of my friends, he laughed and said it was all in my head. So clearly, guys can catch up and talk without any weirdness 🙂
(3) Finally, this is going to be my last week at my current job. I am looking forward to grabbing as many email addresses as possible to stay in touch with all the wonderful people that I have worked with. I am definitely going to miss the people in this office.
Readers, how was your fourth week of the Network Challenge? Have you had any great successes or failures? Any goals over the next week? Share your thoughts below.
A small step this week: i went for a drink with an old colleague… we will make it a monthly habbit and see who else might join!
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Thanks for sharing!!! That’s awesome to hear that you caught up. Sounds like it went well if you’re going to meet up monthly 🙂
Hi MSM, when can we congratulate you with your new challenge? Interesting times for you.
I reached out to 5 people in my network and sent a message to a few ex-collegues. I’m taking babysteps.
Coincidentally this week the leader of my business unit gathered all senior personnel to discuss relationship building. A few pointers from that encounter:
– do it for the right reasons ( because you ar genuinely interested, not just business)
– set up a dedicated time in your agenda to do outreach
– have some KPI’s concerning networking (e.g. his KPI was 2 contacts or calls with people in his network or non-current clients)
– try to act as a connector in your network
– give a lot and don’t expect anything back.
Wow that’s awesome Make Wealth Simple. Sounds like the leader of your business unit hit all the points in the five minute favor. I can imagine that it was a pretty great meeting. Thanks for sharing!!!
I had lunch with a guy who went to my college and I passed his resume along to my managers. He was very happy that I could potentially help him. Having a vibrant and large network allows you to be more flexible.
It’s possible someone might have an opportunity for you in the future! As you posted a few posts back, don’t burn bridges!!!
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Thanks for sharing Erik!!! I have definitely utilized people in my network to get jobs. For that matter outside of my first job every job that I’ve had since is through someone I know.
This week had been a little better for me. I was able to find time to finish penning my saving a million dollars series. At the same time, two people that actually reaching out to me so I spent some time to network with them. One of them wants to partner up with me to promote more financial literacy and the other wants to cross promote personal finance post on each other’s site. I also really want to reach out to you with some of my questions. So expect an email from me :).
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Sounds like a super productive week. Can’t wait to hear from ya!!!
I had a good college friend call me out of the blue last week and it was really nice. Of course you always worry that something horrible has happened when you suddenly hear from someone, but it’s always pleasant to catch up with old friends. 🙂 Good on you for taking the initiative to reach out; as a fellow introvert, I know that takes guts!!
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That’s awesome to hear that you were able to catch up. It’s definitely not always easy but something I know I need to do in order to push myself out of my comfort zone.
Saw you connection come through MSM, nice work there and good hustle!
It’s tough to reach out to everyone depending on the size of your network and often times it’s more about quality over quantity 🙂
I definitely agree Jef!!! It’s tough to get to everyone but I am hoping to reach out to everyone before the challenge is done 🙂 Although it might bleed over.
You are smart to collect email addresses. When I left my last ‘corporate’ job, I made sure to go through all my emails and get my list ready to take with me.
Additionally, if you haven’t already, I suggest that you get one or two reference letters that you can use in the future.
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That’s a really smart idea Primal Prosperity!!! I definitely need to ask for some reference letters just in case. I appreciate the advice.
I have to admit that I didn’t do as much networking this month as I had hoped. However, I feel like I have a good reason (or excuse?!?). For my Sustainably Happy Project I devoted the month of March to “Marriage” and I really made an effort to prioritize spending time with my husband.
Yet I did reach out to every friend who had a birthday in February and I also made a plan for doing more networking in March (which happens to coincide with my resolution to “grow my network” that month!).
Thanks for initiating this challenge and posting updates! Best of luck at your new job.
I think that’s an awesome excuse!!! Spending more time with family is always a priority in my book 🙂
What are your plans for work? Did you cover this elsewhere? You going full time with MSM? Am interested to hear about your next challenge.
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I am going to go to a new office within the government doing slightly different work around accounting. As much as I’d love to go full time with MSM, it’s not quite ready to pay the bills 🙂