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 about how to build your network through
Speaker 1: small actions rather than just big ones. Today's tip, like
Speaker 1: the next few, this week, comes from J. Kelly Howey's
Speaker 1: new book, Build Your Dream Network. Hoei is a writer
Speaker 1: and investor and quite the connector. In Build Your Dream Network,
Speaker 1: she shares her wisdom with the rest of us. Now,
Speaker 1: many of us assume that networking is about big things,
Speaker 1: going to a conference, for instance, and you should certainly
Speaker 1: do big things occasionally. But the nature of big activities
Speaker 1: is to be occasional, and, as Hoey writes, successful networking
Speaker 1: requires understanding the immense power of regular, daily activities to
Speaker 1: connect with someone else. What are these activities? These random
Speaker 1: acts of networking? Holy lists several Your email signature line,
Speaker 1: what does it say about you? Does it make people
Speaker 1: want to get to know you and want to introduce
Speaker 1: you to other people? How about the wording of your
Speaker 1: out of office auto responder or your voicemail message. All
Speaker 1: of these are opportunities to interact well with people who
Speaker 1: are trying to communicate with you. Handled well, they can
Speaker 1: strengthen your network. Likewise, an update posted on your LinkedIn
Speaker 1: profile is networking. Your head shot on a social media
Speaker 1: profile is networking. People will search for your name, and
Speaker 1: after looking at your head shot, will decide if they'd
Speaker 1: like to get in touch. Now, no one needs to
Speaker 1: look like a cover model, but we probably do want
Speaker 1: to look approachable and professional and convey an important part
Speaker 1: of our identities. This way you are Invoices can actually
Speaker 1: be acts of networking. An invoice might get forwarded around
Speaker 1: to various places at the organization that's processing it, and
Speaker 1: all of these people represent opportunities to connect. Participating in
Speaker 1: a Twitter chat can be an act of networking, as
Speaker 1: other people see your comments using a particular hashtag. Even
Speaker 1: taking the stairs can be an act of networking if
Speaker 1: you do it with the goal of saying hello to
Speaker 1: someone in a different part of the building. The same
Speaker 1: goes for trying out a new spot in a coworking space.
Speaker 1: The idea is simply realizing that every time someone has
Speaker 1: an interaction or a potential interaction with you, it's networking. Yet,
Speaker 1: while we might spend quite a while figuring out what
Speaker 1: to wear to an official networking event, we spend less
Speaker 1: time pondering our email signatures. Even though these signatures we'll
Speaker 1: reach a lot more people. I confess that after reading
Speaker 1: Hoey's reminder of that, realized that I hadn't updated my
Speaker 1: signature in oh a year. Best to get moving on that.
Speaker 1: So think about your day and think about all the
Speaker 1: ways people wind up interacting with you. How can you
Speaker 1: choose to make these interactions as positive and as meaningful
Speaker 1: as possible? What random acts of networking will you commit today?
Speaker 1: You can let me know at Before Breakfast podcast at
Speaker 1: i heeart media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's b E the number four, then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com.
Speaker 1: That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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