Networking 101 - Working at Networking

Networking 101 - Working at Networking

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd

I am often asked, why is it that I am such a good networker. What is it that makes me a ‘natural networker’.  Well quite honestly, there is only one response to both of those and that is – I work at it every single day of my life.

For me, it is like any other relationship in life – it has to be worked at or it will never be productive and it will never go the distance. That is why the divorce rate is so high – once married, people don’t continue to invest time and effort and respect into it.  That is also why partnerships fail and businesses fall over. 

We’ve all heard the words “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”  Hell, if the truth be told we have all uttered them at one point or another.  I’d like to take that one step further and say – “It’s not what you know, it’s not even who you know, it’s who you know, who knows who you don’t know!”

For me, it’s getting to know all the ‘who I don’t knows” and that I can only do by getting to know all the “who I knows”, building a relationship with them, interacting with them, sharing all the “who I knows but they don’t knows” with them, so that they will share all the “who they knows, but I don’t knows” with me.  Wow, that was a bit of a tongue twister, but I am sure you get my meaning!

For me Networking is one of the most powerful tools at my disposal.  It is what I use on a daily basis, both consciously and subconsciously to build my business, to land that special deal, to broaden my ‘virtual’ company, which adds value to me as and individual and to my business, so it is extremely difficult for me to understand why so many people find their attempts at networking so frustrating, futile and unrewarding.  They have got to be doing something wrong or they don’t understand the ‘how to’ or they don’t work at it.

Do you understand the Power of Networking?  Do you have any idea what doors it can unlock and the number of opportunities that will come falling out of it – like a closet that has been filled to capacity and the door is suddenly opened, spewing its contents all over the floor.

If you don’t and you want to understand more about networking as a tool – stick around and I’ll share some more of the simple secrets about “how to” network next time.

Nikki Viljoen is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist and she can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or https://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za