Network is a verb so put some action behind it

My network showed up for me this week. But this isn’t that surprising. I take networking seriously, and stay close to those of whom I seem to connect with strongly. I also notice fakes or the people who only want something a mile away. They are painfully transparent, and not my jam at all.

I posted on LinkedIn that I was in need of a media planner buyer with a specific skill set. I received an Inmail from a lovely woman I know with two strong recommendations. She made introductions and I connected with one of them via Zoom the next day. We are an excellent match, and there’s a 100% chance we’ll work together. I had coffee sometime last year with the woman who connected us and we’ve stayed connected via various indirect methods. I now owe her coffee. She delivered for me big.

On the flip side, I was also able to show up for someone this week and she may not even know it yet. I recommended a woman I met through a group a little over a year ago for an opportunity for which I’m sure she’s a top contender and will probably close, likely due to my reputation with the person who asked and how she and I built our relationship via networking. But let me demonstrate this a little further by tracing back a bit. The woman I recommended invited me to a conference last year as a guest of her company. She didn’t have to do that, but she did. I’ve also invited her to an event for which my company was a sponsor. We met well before that, but stayed on each other’s radar. None of that resulted in immediate returns by way of business, but when you have patience and put action behind your networking, so much can happen in your favor and often does.

So help others when you can, and seek help from the people who comprise your network. Be thoughtful about building relationships and don’t focus on quantity, because quality wins the day. My late #1 friend Pam always told me that “love is a verb.” It’s the action you put behind it that counts. So you can call yourself a power networker and even brag about the people in your circle until the cows come home, but until you put some real action behind that word and use it to benefit others, you’re truly missing out.