business cards
The Goal
With the advent of the new year, one of my goals for 2013 was to connect with more of my business network. This goal includes to reconnect with people that I have not seen for a while and to meet people in person that are in my network that I have done before. So I had to determine where to start with this goal and how to accomplish it. So I started with the 900+ contacts I had in my Outlook, which I have accumulated over the years of my professional career. So in a matter of an hour I started struggling on who some people were and where I knew them from, so I turned to Linked In and started searching for people there. I found a wealth of information there, what jobs people were at now or had been at that time I last spoke with them.
The Revelation
Soon I found that I need to organize my business network online, in a place that would send me updates on changes. So I started the following process on updating my network:
1. Connected to them via Linked In.
2. Cleaned up Outlook contacts. If a person was not on Linked In and I could not remember how I met them I deleted them from my Outlook contacts.
3. Grabbed my overflowing business card holder and started the same process on it.
4. Started sending people an email to check in on how they are doing.
5. Schedule coffee or lunch with people to connect face to face.
Common Objective
No soon than I had started I read this from Townsend Wardlaw on his effort to connect in real life with his business network. This reenforced to me in this technology and digital world its still important to connect face to face.
The Results (so far…)
Progress has gone slower then what I would like, it takes time to reach out and schedule meetings. I have been doing a few people a day, this will keep my progress toward my goal moving. Overall its been a great experience catching up on seeing people growth in their careers on the meetings I have had so far.
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