I met recently with a client who had been very frustrated with her networking. She had been feeling like she’d been out there, doing it for 5-6 months, and nothing had happened. Yet.

Then in our last session, she was bouncing with excitement. Finally, it had come together. People she had seen at several events were talking to her about how they would work together or refer her. She was starting to make connections between other people, and she was slowly learning which events were worth her time and which ones weren’t.

Beginning your networking can be frustrating. You want the magic to happen right away, and then it doesn’t. A lot of people give up just before they hit the sweet spot.

This is why I always recommend you begin networking before you need it. Are you currently employed? Start making connections now, while you still have a paycheck. Thinking about starting a business? Begin your networking now, before you need clients.

And what if you are currently in business or unemployed? Start as soon as possible. It’s much easier to network when you don’t need results right away, but it’s better to start now than wait. My rule of thumb is that it can take 6 months to a year before you’ll be known, liked and trusted enough for the magic to happen.

Starting now means you’ll get through that hard period that much sooner.

Tags: Networking

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 8:25 am and is filed under Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.