108: Matt McWilliams talks about his principles for networking

Matt McWilliams blogs about life, leadership, and changing the world. Through the years, he has learned and used some great principles for networking. He shares some of that today. You can connect with Matt on his website or on Twitter. Why is working on our network important? The old saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." Matt takes it beyond that: It is how well you know them. What are some of the big outlets to try to build our networks? Matt has four tenets: Quarterly reach-outs: Twice a week reach out to your network based on last name (i.e this week could be letters D and E). Don't ask a question in the e-mail, otherwise they'll feel an obligation to respond. Hand-written notes: thank you, congratulations, Birthdays, holidays, life events, etc.: Birthday calls vs. birthday cards - more personal. Being helpful: look for ways to help. What kind of financial and time commitments could be expected? Matt's rule is 5% of his work time looking for his next job. This includes interacting and building your network. He suggests 2-4 hours a week. This will vary based on the size of your network. Financially, he recommends about $1,000 to invest in networking. This could cover cards, flowers, meals, etc. To access all the blog posts that Matt has done regarding networking, you can do that here. [Tweet "Always have networking on your mind. - @mattmcwilliams2"] [Tweet "It's not what you know, it's not even just who you know. It is how well you know them. - @mattmcwilliams2"] What are your thoughts about networking? The post Matt McWilliams talks about his principles for networking (1-8) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.