10 Tips for Networking When You Hate Networking
Networking is one of those words that can either make the social butterfly beam with excitement or the introverted feel more stressed and anxious. It’s not everyone’s favorite thing to do but if you’re a business owner it’s important to put yourself out there.
Making connections can help your business in so many ways. It enables you to meet influential people, gather info that may be beneficial to your business, and/or even just attain some biz support with like minded people.
Businesses are built around relationships. It’s truly who you know in many instances. So here are our 10 tips for networking when you hate networking.
1. Virtual meetups can be a dream for networking. There’s less social pressure and might as well take advantage of the no drive time.
2. Talk to everyone you know. If you already have a group of friends or family that you talk with regularly, use those relationships to talk about your business. Someone they know might benefit from your services.
3. Be super clear about your services so you can feel comfortable and confident talking about your business with people you don’t know. It’ll help with the nerves!
4. Set up some coffee dates. Sometimes one and one can feel less overwhelming than a networking event.
5. Join FB communities or other online communities and make some connections that way.
6. Volunteering is like a non-networking networking opportunity. Volunteer at an event or cause that is tied to your area of business. You’ll make connections while also doing a good deed.
7. Improve existing relationships, rather than finding new ones. You know that friend you love talking to but kind of lost touch with because life is just busy? Work on cultivating the current relationships in your life. You’d be surprised who your friends know.
8. Ask for referrals from your friends and family. There’s nothing wrong with asking for referrals from those you love. In fact, they're probably your biggest advocates. Utilize their connections!
9. Having a goal sometimes makes things more interesting. If you’re going to a networking event maybe challenge yourself to meet so many people by the end of the evening.
10. Use social media to reach out to people you’d like to get to know. You can use Instagram DM’s or Facebook Messenger to start the conversation. Who knows what connections you could make from a simple reach out!
We think you most likely have more connections than you think! Use the people around you and don’t be afraid to ask for referrals. Get your elevator pitch nailed down and remember to hold your head up high. A little bit of confidence will go a long way. You got this!
If this resonates with you, we’d love to continue the conversation over in the DMs. (Would you look at that, see us following our own networking tip #10.) We absolutely love getting to know our readers in our Instagram DM’s so go pop in and say hey and let us know which of these tips you are going to try first! . It’s really us, real human beings, responding so go say hey.
