Well for starters, networking here doesn’t mean anything close to computers.
And I am pretty sure most of you have never had the privilege to know this in any other context, but lets get you up to speed with it.
Networking is the ability to form connections and retain them and this can only happen when done actively, it is an ongoing task and not something that you do once in a while.
Why should I waste so much of my time connecting with people?
I understand that in a world where time is scarce, putting downtime for building new connections can be exhausting and also I understand that you already have people in your life and you might not feel the need to increase your network.
Here are a few things to understand:
- People currently in your network are people who are there because of geo-location, family relations, or school/college friends, and not because of who you really are or who you really want to be, you just happened to be around them for a long time.
Though these relationships are extremely important, they play a very small role when you want to grow beyond the geo-location, beyond careers they know and most of them will fade away when you start growing. - Networking is always done with intent, the intent of learning something, intent to getting access to someone else’s network, intent to help, or intent to work for someone.
Sounds very selfish but that’s how it is.
You are not building friendships, you are building a connection, which eventually might convert to a friendship or kinship. - You don’t start digging a well after the hut is on fire, Imagine wanting to switch jobs, moving to a new city, wanting advice on career or the startup idea you are working on, and feeling miserable because you have no one to go to.
- People in your current network will mostly be people plus or minus 3 years from you, that is usually how friendships foster.
But there will be times when you will need elderly advice – filing taxes, investments, career choices etc.
Also you will need young folks to tell you how the world works for them, change of perspective can change a lot.
So how do I build my network from scratch?
Assuming that you have either moved to a new city for work or your college or all your friends moved for work/college and you literally are left with no option but to build a new network from scratch.
Open Facebook Events / Linkedin Events / Meetups.com and check for events that excite you, go to those events, introduce yourself as someone who is looking to connect to people, try talking to people.
One of the best way of doing networking is to go early, talk to a few people, gain attention while you introduce yourself at the event, after the event, chase the speaker off the stage, talk to them, wait after the event to talk to rest of the crowd.
Go to the same event multiple times, once you have been spotted by people there multiple times, it is easier for you to build a connection.
Once you have built an offline connection, connect with them on socials or linkedin and try staying in touch.
Has this ever helped you?
Every single time I needed it.
I got my first internship 3 days after I went to an event, because I waited for the event to end then went and talked to the organizer for the next 2 hours.
Here’s the offer letter:
I did this Surat Startups internship for 3 or so months and then worked with the same guys on something called “Started Weekend” which was like this big event because the marketing material said it was in partnership with “Google for Entrepreneurs”, and it was quite a big deal, met one of my now best friend when I looking for a designer for the event.
Also met one of the trustee of the college who later joined the team because it seemed cool to him (google, remember) and over the course we became really good friends, knowing him helped me start my own skill development initiative, more about it here.
While working with Surat Startups, I got introduced to Aniket Gupta, a new lad who had just started a coworking space in a city where no one knew what coworking was, he is a good friend now and my company works out of his second and much larger space.
One fine day after I was done with Surat Startups, I felt like I should be doing something with my life and posted the below status on Facebook and my network responded.
Remember Aniket, the coworking guy? He saw it and asked for what I contributed and what I expected to learn, I replied and then he texted me that someone who had just come down from banglore wanted an intern.
I took up the opportunity and met the guy who wanted to take me in, we had a nice one hour of discussion and then I asked him who he was, he asked me to google him.
A bit of a showoff he was and still is, but that is how I met Naman Sarawagi, and then I accessed his network, got a lot of freelancing gigs from his connections and then leveraged their connections to get more connections.
And now again when I was looking for Product Management roles, I reached out to him and now I work for him, good for me because he has upgraded his network and I can leverage his network to build my own.
Network has ripple effects, expand your network.
From the first internship to working for Forbes 30 under 30 to making presentations that have raised millions to Product Management, the network makes everything possible.
