15 Networking Ideas

business skills business tips career connection entrepreneurs leadership mandy b. anderson personal leadership Sep 13, 2021

Let’s talk about networking. Everyone needs to network more, and many people get intimidated by it. Including, sometimes, yours truly.

Yes. It’s true. When I over think it, I get totally intimidated by the networking idea.

Which is so silly! Because, after chatting with my husband the other night, I realized that networking actually energizes me! And here I’ve been believing the silly little lie that it drains me. Nope. What actually drains me is not knowing where to start or just plain procrastinating on it. That’s draining.

So I made a list for myself; I’m challenging myself to do all 15 of these items for the rest of 2021 – and I’m sharing it here for you so you can borrow it.

15 Quick Ideas to Network More…

  1. Grab coffee with an old friend or acquaintance and ask how you can help them grow their business.
  2. Be a guest at a networking meeting such as Master Networks.
  3. Attend a fundraiser event and meet 5 new people.
  4. Schedule breakfast, lunch, or coffee with each of the new people you met.
  5. Start a conversation with someone new at the gym.
  6. FaceTime an old friend and have a real conversation.
  7. Reach out to a mentor or colleague in the same field as you and learn from their experience.
  8. Apply to be a speaker at an upcoming event.
  9. Find a non-profit to be a part of and learn about what it takes to be on their committee.
  10. Join Podmatch.com and network with podcast hosts to be a guest on their show.
  11. Email one LinkedIn contact per day and ask to schedule a call to get to know each other (do you research first so you can personalize the message and get to know what they do.)
  12. Look through a local magazine and send a card to someone that was featured.
  13. Send a note of thanks to a past client and include a business card asking for a referral.
  14. Watch a local morning news show and send a card of encouragement to someone that did a great job on a recent segment.
  15. Send a private message to someone you admire on Instagram or Twitter and see if they would want to schedule a short virtual coffee date to learn more about each other.

Short. Simple. Now the kicker is to just DO IT! *wink*

I’m all in. How about you? 

Much love,
~Coach Mandy