Building and Maintaining Your Network
As I sit down to write this piece, it feels like I’m trying to teach you how to set up systems to make and keep friends. At the end of the day, trying to strategize networking into perfect boxes that grow your business forever will get you nowhere. People can feel when your connection is based on sales or strategy, and when you’re trying to get something from them. My biggest advice is to be generous for generosity's sake. The power of networking is having your business spoken about in rooms you aren’t in and/or getting your business into rooms it wasn’t in before. The magic of having a good reputation and strong network of people who care about you is that they will vouch for you and your work... which is hard to fake or force. I will share strategies for being extra generous, making it easy for people to remember you, and keeping connections strong once you have them, but always remember that what you do on and offline will ripple through your community.
Identify what you want to be known for
Everyone has different ideas about what makes someone good to work with, so if you focus your energy on making everyone like working with you, you’ll end up with a reputation of being a pushover. Instead of basing your reputation on getting everyone to like you, I recommend basing your reputation on your values. But your reputation isn’t based solely on how you embody your values; it’s also based on what you do. Have you ever heard the advice “don’t get good at anything you don’t like doing?” This is a very true statement. It's easy to say yes to every opportunity when you work for yourself. The problem is that if you hate building websites and say yes to every website build, you’ll become known as the girl who builds websites. It’s fine to explore different opportunities, but if you try something and learn you hate it, start saying no to similar projects. Plenty of services can light you up! There’s no reason to get good at services that drain your energy.
To clarify what you want to be known for, answer the following questions!
What are the 3-5 organizing values for your life/business?
How are you currently embodying said values in your professional relationships? Where are you falling short?
How can you deepen the embodiment of your values in your relationships?
What would you want a friend to say about you to someone who doesn’t know you?
What would you want a client or colleague to say to describe you?
Which of your services would you love to do all day every day forever?
What do you know you hate doing that drains your energy?
Once you answer these questions, you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to be known for. Now it’s time to talk about the logistics of widening your network and maintaining your reputation as you grow.
Make your work easy to share
No matter which rooms you want to show up in, make it as easy as possible for people to connect with you and stay in your world. It can feel like you need to be everywhere these days to be discovered. But you don’t have to be on every social media platform and available by website, email, text, DM, and carrier pigeon to be found. In fact, too many ways to connect can overwhelm others as they decide how to reach you. Keep it simple and small at first. You can always grow from there!
What this looks like online:
Decide where you want to show up. I recommend one platform for short-form content and another for long-form content. This lets people discover you easily, then dive deeper into your world. Once you know where you’re showing up, think about the process you want someone to go through when they discover you. On social media, it's usually easy for people to save your content and/or follow you (yay!). But what happens once they follow you? Do you have your email address on your profile? What about an organized link-in-bio? Think about what you want someone to do as soon as they land on your profile and do everything you can to make this clear and easy!
What this looks like in-person:
I’ll be honest: as a member of Gen Z who built a business during COVID, I don’t have much practice talking about my business to people in real life! Now that I’m more settled in Kansas City, I’ve been learning how important it is to follow up after an in-person conversation. The most obvious way to do this is to keep a couple of business cards in your wallet to hand out. Also, if you are attending (or, more importantly, tabling) an event, I recommend having a flier and/or QR code that directs people to connect with you, in addition to business cards.
Put yourself out there
Now that you know what you want to be known for, and have a system for getting folks connected with you, it’s time to widen your network! Take some time to think about the rooms where you'd love to have your name spoken. Where do your people hang out, and how can you become more visible there? What mediums do you love using to market/share your work (writing, videos, 1:1 chats, public speaking, etc.)? Brainstorm ways you can show up in the spaces you want to be in and use the medium you love to talk about your business. Maybe you have noticed that your people love Astrology and Spirituality, and you love to have 1:1 conversations about your business. Are there any astrology events you could attend and/or sponsor? Or astrology podcasts you could be a guest on? Make a list of places you want to show up, and start reaching out! You might face rejection, but you’ll never know unless you try!
Stay connected
Now that you’ve met some new people, nurture those relationships. Follow your new friends on socials and actually engage with their content. Carve out time to reply to your emails and text messages at least once a week. As you get closer, it might be worth setting up a coffee date or something to deepen the connection. I know it’s easy to get busy and forget to stay connected with our people, but autumn is a perfect time to reconnect with your business friends. You never know what can come from it! Worst case, you spend time with a friend; best case, they connect you with an opportunity you wouldn’t have known about without them.
Be generous
It feels like everywhere online people are telling you not to give anything away for free, to protect your peace, to charge your worth, and on and on. It is absolutely important to have boundaries and not make a habit of giving everything away for free. However, it’s also important to be generous when and where we can. By being generous, we can show the quality of our work, build goodwill, and get our name out there. Take some time to think about where your line is. Maybe you’re willing to have an unpaid chat with a new friend about their social media once, but doing it more than once without being paid feels icky. It might take some trial and error, but finding ways to be generous that don’t feel like a big drain is a wonderful way to strengthen your network.
Create a space to connect
Most people are busy. We’re so bombarded with the 50 million things we need to do that it's hard to remember to reach out to our friends, and before we know it, it’s been 6 months since we saw our best work friend. Instead of depending on your memory or other people’s invitations, I encourage you to create a space of your own to connect with people. Whether it’s a podcast where you interview professional contacts, a weekly digital co-working hour, or a monthly movie night with friends, creating a space to connect with others will help you build and maintain your network. It doesn’t have to be fancy or super structured. In fact, casual is better! Create the space, invite people in, and see how your network grows from there.
