10 rules for successful networking

In today's world, the networking strategy is essential for your professional development. It is about creating a network of contacts with people who have interests similar to yours, in order to learn, exchange, and discover job and business opportunities that can enhance their work profile.

Networking is built progressively, and you can do it through social networks, especially those aimed at the professional market, such as LinkedIn; and also in meetings, events, trainings, clubs and associations representing your activity. You can do it virtually as in person, and even through third parties who introduce you to the right people.

The result is obtained in time, after a permanent process, since it is useless to activate a network if you give up at the first stumble, or to make two or three contacts and abandon it. It is necessary to persist and try alternative paths to establish your own network that you will have from that day on.

How to create a network of professional contacts

To face this process it will be necessary:

  • Know your market very well and who you want to target;
  • Have clear goals;
  • A solid and consistent professional profile;
  • It helps a lot to have your personal brand established;
  • Investigate and inquire previously and constantly,
  • And a value offer (what you have to deliver to the network) interesting and different from what exists.

You can start with the contacts you already have, for example, your fellow students, professional colleagues you worked with, former employers, your neighbors and acquaintances in general that are aligned with your profile.

There is a belief that suggests that networking is only about selling and making a profit for one: nothing could be further from the truth. It is even counterproductive to want to sell immediately, without giving the other person the opportunity to discover something interesting in your professional profile. Remember that the goal of networking is to empower each other...

Original Article: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/374511