How Networking Accelerates your Success
My first full time job in the travel industry was the result of connections in my mothers network. It is a known fact that over 85% of jobs result from networking. I met my husband, Leigh, through a work colleague during that period, although perhaps we were always destined to meet, as I had booked his parents world trip before I even met him!
Through my network, I got a teaching job and when I finally decided to move on from teaching I took a job as an International Home Relocation Consultant , encouraged by a friend who was also employed there. I helped executives and their families settle into Melbourne, and became acutely aware of just how difficult life when you lack a network to call on, both personally and professionally.
In each of these roles, I established new networks. My friendships and connections grew. The networks helped me to learn. To share knowledge and experience and to help others achieve what was important to them. Over those years and continuing on today, I have had exposure
- to people with diverse skills
- insights into amazing stories and adventures which have broadened my horizons and education
- knowledge that has enriched my life and helped me to grow personally and professionally
- to others who have demonstrated life skills so important to our well being such as resilience, empathy, courage and perseverance and more
- to others having a tougher time than me, and pulling me back from those moments when I have been caught up with “sweating the small stuff”
- to sadness and struggle of others which has deepened my understanding of how precious life can be.
So I would encourage you to take some time to look at networking as not only a way to effectively market your business, but as a life skill that can provides great benefit to you as it helps you to learn, grow and achieve what matters to the you and hopefully, along the way you can have some positive impact on the lives of those that you encounter.
Have you ever taken the time to really think about all the networks you have developed throughout your life and the impact they have had in enriching your life both personally and professionally?
Recently, I had lunch with five women that I went to school with more then three decades ago. I catch up a few times a year with two of them, and the others I had not see for years. We have all had diverse careers and life experiences but it is the strong relationships that were formed all those years ago, that makes it seem like only yesterday when we have last seen each other.
Your school friends and neighbourhood friends are possibly your first encounter in building a network. As you pass through the various stages of growing up, and participate in diverse activities such as education, sporting activities, higher study, travelling, employment, increased friendship groups, development of work life, marriage, extended family, parenting and so on, you continue to develop networks that can offer value and support when you embrace and nurture them.
I know networking has enriched my life in so many ways. As Steve Jobs once told the Standford University Graduates, you can only connect the dots when you look back and see where you are now and how you got there. You can see the way life unfolded and how relationships and opportunities influenced your direction. For me, running networking events, silo breakers and providing 1:1 and group coaching on how to network effectively was not my destination, but has been and continues to be a good journey and certainly enriches my life.
