1
00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:08,440
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:14,880
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

3
00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:18,760
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how you can build a bigger

4
00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:24,760
Speaker 1: network even if you're working from home. In fact, especially

5
00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:28,680
Speaker 1: if you're working from home. While working from home can

6
00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:33,479
Speaker 1: sometimes be isolating. With a little strategic planning, you can

7
00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:38,320
Speaker 1: realize that it doesn't need to be. Most of us

8
00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:42,599
Speaker 1: know that we should be spending more time networking. We

9
00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,760
Speaker 1: know that a robust network can help with finding jobs,

10
00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:51,280
Speaker 1: landing clients, and figuring things out. Plus it's just fun

11
00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:54,000
Speaker 1: to have people who are cheering for us and to

12
00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,840
Speaker 1: have professional friends that we get to watch succeed too.

13
00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,040
Speaker 1: But when we get busy, it is always easier not

14
00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,920
Speaker 1: to reach out. This is especially true these days when

15
00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,720
Speaker 1: many people are working from home and possibly juggling personal

16
00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:14,600
Speaker 1: responsibilities like kids, remote learning too. It feels like there's

17
00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:19,280
Speaker 1: just never enough time. But here's the thing, if we

18
00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:22,600
Speaker 1: are smart about it, we can build a more robust

19
00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,600
Speaker 1: network of people external to our organizations while working from home.

20
00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:31,800
Speaker 1: In some ways, it's easier then if you're in an office.

21
00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,080
Speaker 1: When you work in an office five days a week,

22
00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:39,039
Speaker 1: you spend a lot of time with your immediate colleagues.

23
00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,480
Speaker 1: Of course, right you go to lunch together, you grab

24
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,640
Speaker 1: coffee together, and that's great, but you also start to

25
00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,480
Speaker 1: feel like your need to meet people in your industry

26
00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:57,480
Speaker 1: is well met. Many offices also have pretty strong time

27
00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,920
Speaker 1: norms that make it hard to meet eternal people during

28
00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,960
Speaker 1: the work day. If you leave the office at four

29
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,560
Speaker 1: pm to grab coffee with someone else, people wonder where

30
00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,080
Speaker 1: you're going. If you skip lunch with your usual crew

31
00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,880
Speaker 1: to meet someone else, people wonder what's going on. It's

32
00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:17,080
Speaker 1: not that you're going to get fired for this or anything,

33
00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,040
Speaker 1: but needing to explain yourself always puts a little damper

34
00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,080
Speaker 1: on the impulse to do these things. When you are

35
00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:29,440
Speaker 1: working from home, however, you can completely escape these time

36
00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,959
Speaker 1: norms these days. Of course, we're not really supposed to

37
00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:36,720
Speaker 1: be eating and drinking maskless with people outside of our households.

38
00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:39,360
Speaker 1: But if you want to meet someone to go for

39
00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,080
Speaker 1: a walk in the middle of the day, well you can.

40
00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,959
Speaker 1: You can have a social coffee by zoom with someone

41
00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,880
Speaker 1: and not have the people in the next cubicle here

42
00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:53,040
Speaker 1: are you. And since you are not automatically socializing as

43
00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,360
Speaker 1: much with your colleagues, you'll feel more of a need

44
00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,800
Speaker 1: to arrange to talk with people, and that is a

45
00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:04,680
Speaker 1: good thing. It can nudge you to reach out, So

46
00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,760
Speaker 1: do just that. My friend Molly Beck wrote a book

47
00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,959
Speaker 1: called reach Out that advocates doing something like this every

48
00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,960
Speaker 1: work day. Reach out to one person, send an email,

49
00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,400
Speaker 1: or you could text or call. And this can be

50
00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:23,680
Speaker 1: someone you know from the past, someone a friend recommended

51
00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,320
Speaker 1: you meet, or just someone doing something cool in the world.

52
00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:32,040
Speaker 1: The point is to build the habit. If you reach

53
00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:34,800
Speaker 1: out to two hundred forty people in a work year,

54
00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,640
Speaker 1: maybe a hundred will lead to responses, probably more, but

55
00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,680
Speaker 1: let's say a hundred. Maybe twenty of those will become

56
00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:47,240
Speaker 1: solid connections. But twenty connections a year for five years

57
00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,320
Speaker 1: means you have a hundred people in your professional network

58
00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:53,800
Speaker 1: who really feel solid about you. That would be an

59
00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:58,080
Speaker 1: impressively robust network. And you can do it all even

60
00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:02,760
Speaker 1: if you're working from home. So today, build in a

61
00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,160
Speaker 1: few minutes to think about who you'd like to get

62
00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:08,200
Speaker 1: in touch with. Think about who else you could get

63
00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:10,200
Speaker 1: in touch with two over the next few work days.

64
00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,320
Speaker 1: None of this needs to take much time. A few

65
00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:20,080
Speaker 1: emails a week, one virtual coffee. But this investment will

66
00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:22,640
Speaker 1: pay off in so many ways over the long call.

67
00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:25,679
Speaker 1: And if you use working from home as a reason

68
00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:28,400
Speaker 1: to reach out more broadly than to just your colleagues,

69
00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:33,200
Speaker 1: your network will be stronger. Because while we all hope

70
00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,479
Speaker 1: that everything will go well in our careers, no one's

71
00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:41,799
Speaker 1: job is a certain A robust network means you don't

72
00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:46,120
Speaker 1: have to worry about that if things don't work out well,

73
00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,480
Speaker 1: there are a hundred people you could call who will

74
00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:54,719
Speaker 1: help you take the next step. In the meantime, this

75
00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:58,719
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the

76
00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:08,440
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear

77
00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,240
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

78
00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:15,080
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

79
00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:20,000
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the

80
00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,320
Speaker 1: number four then Breakfast p o D. You can also

81
00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,719
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i

82
00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,840
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out

83
00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:33,599
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward

84
00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:41,800
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of

85
00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:45,159
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,

86
00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:49,159
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

87
00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:50,560
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows