Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to think connection, not networking. When you
Speaker 1: have a broad and diverse group of people who like you,
Speaker 1: you can accomplish your professional goals. You can achieve those
Speaker 1: broad and diverse connections simply by being a helpful, kind,
Speaker 1: and engaging human being. That feels a lot better than
Speaker 1: handing out business cards and trading favors. Today's tip, like
Speaker 1: some others this week, comes from Ashley Stall's book You Turn,
Speaker 1: Get Unstuck, Discover your Direction, and design your dream career.
Speaker 1: Ashley is a career coach who helps people figure out
Speaker 1: what they want to be doing in life. In her book,
Speaker 1: she details some of her time in Washington when she
Speaker 1: was working for the Pentagon in counter terrorism. When she
Speaker 1: was freshly in d C. Trying to get to know people,
Speaker 1: she went to networking events as one does, but it
Speaker 1: turns out that one of the most interesting and useful
Speaker 1: connections she made was a cab driver. He hadn't even
Speaker 1: been her driver. What happened is that she had been
Speaker 1: talking with a homeless man in a metro station and
Speaker 1: giving him a granola bar, and he mentioned that he
Speaker 1: knew someone who drove a cab and was often in
Speaker 1: line at the place where she was going to a
Speaker 1: particular event. She went and said hello to that driver
Speaker 1: and mentioned that she talked with his friend who had
Speaker 1: been at the station. After a while with her going
Speaker 1: in and out of the event to talk with the driver,
Speaker 1: who seemed a little bit more interesting than the suits
Speaker 1: at the event. He mentioned that he sometimes drove for
Speaker 1: some people at the White House and could help Ashley
Speaker 1: get a meeting with them. Not bad right now. I
Speaker 1: am not saying that this is what always happens in life,
Speaker 1: and in fact it usually doesn't. But in general, connection
Speaker 1: is a good thing. And connection is so much better
Speaker 1: than trying to evaluate who is useful and who is
Speaker 1: it and only talking with the people who seem immediately
Speaker 1: useful and then hitting them up for favors when you
Speaker 1: don't really know them. So instead of networking, I think connection,
Speaker 1: and then make sure you are connecting with lots of people.
Speaker 1: The upside of this mindset is that it makes any
Speaker 1: conversation useful, at least on some level, and I mean
Speaker 1: with anyone the postal clerk. You get to know every
Speaker 1: time you bring in samples to mail to potential clients,
Speaker 1: the people in your running group, the lady who is
Speaker 1: always out on her porch two blocks away from your house,
Speaker 1: people at your house of worship, or the other parents
Speaker 1: who are always there when you bring your kids to
Speaker 1: dance class. Now, I am not saying don't bother with
Speaker 1: professional networking events. Your hit rate for immediately valuable professional
Speaker 1: opportunities is obviously going to be higher at an event
Speaker 1: that is for your industry and involves people who have
Speaker 1: the ability to make decisions. Of course you should go
Speaker 1: to those, but again, go with the goal of connection,
Speaker 1: not networking. Get to know people, make friends, even if
Speaker 1: it doesn't lead to anything professionally. You will have really
Speaker 1: cool people to hang out with at the next networking event.
Speaker 1: And that is fun too. And it also happens that
Speaker 1: we often need different things in life, and it is
Speaker 1: the randomness of knowing lots of different people that can
Speaker 1: help there, including the random people that the people you
Speaker 1: know happen to know. I was reminded of this recently
Speaker 1: while reading a blog post by Kristen Over at The
Speaker 1: Frugal Girl. She had been living with her parents after
Speaker 1: a personal crisis and she wanted to find her own
Speaker 1: place where she and her girls could live. Multiple places
Speaker 1: fell through, and since she is self employed, the approval
Speaker 1: process was always harder. Then in the midst of this,
Speaker 1: her mom went to her Bible study and shared what
Speaker 1: Kristen was going through. One of the women in the
Speaker 1: group informed her that her son's tenants had just informed
Speaker 1: him that they were moving out in a few weeks.
Speaker 1: Kristen applied before the home was even listed for rent
Speaker 1: and was approved to move in. All sorts of connections matter.
Speaker 1: The more you have, the better, So instead of networking,
Speaker 1: I think connection. You'll connect with more and different people
Speaker 1: and probably enjoy the process more too. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. M Hey, everybody, I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch? Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.