Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to treat your network like a garden. If
Speaker 1: you've got blooming plants in your yard, you know that
Speaker 1: you generally can't just plant a garden and forget it
Speaker 1: and trust the garden will be amazing anytime you visit.
Speaker 1: Tending a garden is an ongoing project, but if you
Speaker 1: do tend regularly, you can create something that is pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: So I have been thinking of this topic lately as
Speaker 1: my yard has been blooming. I love watching all of
Speaker 1: the flowering trees bloom and sequence through spring, everything from
Speaker 1: hell to roses show their colors. I also know that
Speaker 1: all of this beauty is nothing close to an accident.
Speaker 1: We have spent a lot of time and effort planting
Speaker 1: things and pruning and waiting and hacking back vines and
Speaker 1: helping a long anything that doesn't seem to get enough
Speaker 1: rain or that might get nibbled on by deer. There
Speaker 1: is a close analogy here to having a thriving professional network.
Speaker 1: It is easy, in the busy seasons of life to
Speaker 1: just ignore all this. Who has time to go to
Speaker 1: that conference, or to reach out to former colleagues, or
Speaker 1: to send that extra email checking in with someone, or
Speaker 1: to do a favor for someone that requires a few
Speaker 1: uncertain steps. While it is great to have a network,
Speaker 1: at least in theory, you may be telling yourself that
Speaker 1: you will do all this when this busy season of
Speaker 1: life passes. But it turns out that years can pass
Speaker 1: without the busyness letting up, and then all of a
Speaker 1: sudden something happens. You need to fill a vital position
Speaker 1: on your team, or maybe you yourself are suddenly looking
Speaker 1: for a new job. You are scrambling to reach out
Speaker 1: to people who haven't heard from you in ages. It's
Speaker 1: better to be intentional about all of this watering and pruning.
Speaker 1: I think the best approach is to truly make it
Speaker 1: a habit. Every single workday, do something to tend to
Speaker 1: your network. Put it on your daily to do list,
Speaker 1: and cross it off at the end of the week.
Speaker 1: Look at what you've done. You can plan things in
Speaker 1: and you can make a note of whatever comes up
Speaker 1: that you do. This doesn't have to be complicated, but
Speaker 1: don't let yourself off the hook too easy. Either. Liking
Speaker 1: something on social media isn't really building a network, but
Speaker 1: a well placed comment or direct message to someone about
Speaker 1: something they posted just might be. If you will be
Speaker 1: attending an industry event in the near future, reach out
Speaker 1: to people to see if they will be attending as well.
Speaker 1: If they do, plan to say hello in person. Do
Speaker 1: favors whenever you can. If someone asks for your advice
Speaker 1: on something, give it and offer to find other resources
Speaker 1: as you think of them. Introduce people to each other.
Speaker 1: That is often a great way to make lots of
Speaker 1: people happier. Help a colleague figure out the right person
Speaker 1: to talk with about something. Send an article to some
Speaker 1: one if you see a mutual friend mentioned, or if
Speaker 1: you read something you think the person might find of interest.
Speaker 1: You might also try something more elaborate. One of the
Speaker 1: wonderful things about being in the content business is that
Speaker 1: I have been able to interview all sorts of wonderful
Speaker 1: people for articles and books and podcasts over the years.
Speaker 1: Many times we stay in touch. Maybe you could write
Speaker 1: an interview series for your company blog or for an
Speaker 1: industry newsletter. Maybe you would like to start a podcast.
Speaker 1: Maybe you could organize a panel for a conference, or
Speaker 1: even for a company brown bag lunch. Series, and then
Speaker 1: you would have a reason to reach out to people
Speaker 1: you would like to get to know better. The good
Speaker 1: news is that all of this adds up. One action
Speaker 1: per workday is over two hundred per year. If you
Speaker 1: plant two hundred plants, you're going to have a pretty
Speaker 1: nice garden. And if they are perennials and you keep
Speaker 1: planting two hundred plants a year, all this bounty will
Speaker 1: soon be almost overwhelming. Well, probably not really overwhelming, because
Speaker 1: obviously not all of your network tending will lead to anything,
Speaker 1: but it is rarely a bad thing to talk to
Speaker 1: other people and to have other people know your name.
Speaker 1: Not all the plants in a garden workout, Deer eat some,
Speaker 1: and others just don't thrive. But very few gardens just happen.
Speaker 1: They require ongoing effort to enjoy the beauty, so what
Speaker 1: it is all worth it in the end. It's the
Speaker 1: same thing with tending your network. There is no set
Speaker 1: it and forget it, but the process can be pretty
Speaker 1: enriching too. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our times. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas
Speaker 1: or feedback. You can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.