Is Your Fear Hindering Your Networking Success?
If anything in business history is consistent, it is this one
fact: those who risk big, win big. Think Bill Gates and how at
19-years old (and dropping from Harvard), he transformed his
little garage project into what we have come to know as the
biggest and arguably most influential software company in the
world. All over the world people may differ in their like or
dislike of this big risk-taker, but one thing is certain-he took
his risks and it paid off. He became, and up until now,
successful.
Risks in fact come in all shapes and sizes, most especially in a
networking business. Networking, defined, is interacting and
exchanging information with the intent of creating mutual
benefits and support. More than anything, therefore, networking
is about creating relationships with people you interact with
everyday. This means that what you do, essentially, is creating
meaningful relationships in order to achieve a degree of gain
for yourself and your company. As such, a networking business
shares many characteristics with life in general and how you
deal with the fears that come with it. Have you considered the
fact that your fears-of interactions, of risks, of connecting
with others-killing your networking business?
The first step in a networking business is going to networking
seminars. The fear of getting involved with a larger group of
people in this aspect is a clear burden to your business. Why
so? These open avenues to meet professionals and individuals
from your same business clique is something that will allow you
to optimize strategies for survival. Not only do you lose the
possibility of creating valuable linkages with other companies
by not going to these functions, you may even risk the loss of
business 'friends' who may help you or give advice to you when
the going gets tough.
Personal decisions surrounding these networking seminars may
also be creating a hindrance to you. What do you wear? What
impression do you want to make? How are you to act around other
people? While these are indeed important questions to ask
yourself at any rate, never forget the fact that the primary
purpose of attending these seminars is creating the necessary
linkages that are the lifeline of your business. Your fear that
roots from the previously mentioned questions may easily be
remedied by always trying to appropriately dress and act for the
occasion. Events provide dressing guidelines. Moreover, trying
to concentrate on what you want to achieve will likely help you
focus better on the core of your business while you interact
with other people. This sort of focus will in effect remove your
inhibitions and worries, thus allowing you to be at your
performance peak at all times.
Because networking is about getting to know people and knowing
of their interests, the best attitude you can bring to your
business is that willingness to listen to other people, and the
interest in other people. By becoming interested and showing
interest in what other people do, you create a genuine
connection with other people, especially because they know you
are listening. Moreover, it will shift your attention from your
personal fears and worries, and will instead divert it to
engaging whoever you are conversing with.
Putting an end to worry and fear will not only give you a fun
time while you run your marketing business, but it will also
allow your business to be rewarding for you in more ways than
one. Showing interest in other people eventually gives you a
chance to enjoy pleasant company, work on your networking
business, and moreover, may be carried over to a continued
relationship beyond the precedent meeting. After all, showing
genuine interest in other people precludes following up in the
business relationship you have created. Should you have let your
fears get the best of you, you not only lose on a potentially
rich market, but also the opportunity to create lasting linkages
for your business.
What's the greater loss when fear actually gets the best of you,
and you're in a networking business? Consider the basic idea of
networking-one person knows 100 people, and these 100 people
know 100 more each. Overall, the fear that will stop you from
interacting from one person will in effect effectively cut you
off a huge network of other people whom you need to make your
business succeed.
In networking, the number of opportunities exist at an
exponential scatter, and without fear in creating one single
business relationship, you already open doors to a universe of
potential profit. Without fear, you can fully capitalize on the
very foundations of networking-that of an exponential market
increase at every step. Make that important link today-and don't
let that fear stop you!