Got 10 Minutes? Then You DO Have Time to Network

Roughly twice a year, I feel an irresistible urge to stock up on women's magazines, so along with the ingredients for last night's dinner, I picked up InStyle, O (The Oprah Magazine), and Cosmo (but only for the cover lines which every copywriter says I MUST study!)

In the September issue of O, Oprah's editors lay out 10-minute plans for a wide range of activities from working out to beating procrastination, eating better and jump-starting a goal.

"If you can find a little window each day to do something for yourself—and who doesn't have 10 minutes?—whether it's doing yoga, meditating, or fixing a nutritious lunch, you'll feel a difference that will make you want to pry another 10 minutes from your schedule. And then another. You see where we're going."

Could this work with networking? Why not?

Despite what you might think, networking doesn't have to take a lot of time. You don't have to spend hours and hours at networking events every week. Faced with the prospect of committing such a big chunk of time in our already busy lives, many people are tempted to forgo networking opportunities all together.

But even if you can't make time to get to events regularly, there are little things you can do on a consistent basis to keep your connections fresh, that don't take more than 10 minutes. Here are a few ideas:

• Invite more friends on LinkedIn, taking the time to type a personal note to each one.
• Leave a smart comment on a blog you read regularly. 
• Email a contact you haven't seen in a while and make a date to catch up by phone or in person. 
• Respond to Facebook messages or write a greeting on a friend's wall. 
• Recommend a resource to your Twitter followers. 
• Forward a relevant article to a contact who might be interested in the topic. 
• Handwrite a thank you note.

What other ideas do you have?  

 

Comments

[Jan Vermeiren]

Hi Liz,

10 minutes or even less a day to connect or reconnect with people can indeed make a difference.

In my opinion one of the best networking actions one can do is connect two people with each other.

This is a simple action that doesn't cost much time to do via e-mail.

Even if one does this only once a week, this means that you can improve your relationship with 104 people a year!

Have a great networking day !

Jan

PS: I hope this post qualifies for "leave a smart comment on blog you regularly read" :-)

Jan Vermeiren
Founder of Networking Coach (www.networking-coach.com)