Networking Tips

One of the best networkers I have ever met happens to be my husband, James. I asked him to share a couple tips for networking success, so here they are:

1. Be brave! Networking can be intimidating because often you are asking someone for something precious: his or her time.
2. Always conclude a meeting by asking the person whom else they think you should talk to. This may lead to your next opportunity.

Remember - Networking is about building relationships with people who will be happy to tell others about who you are and what you do.

Avoid a common oversight – Be certain to follow up!

Send an email, text or note to thank your contact for their time. If you have a connection for your contact, share this information. Be sure to follow up on the leads provided to you. Then you can follow up AGAIN by sharing how that meeting went with your initial contact.

Peace to you and yours - Jackie

Seizing Opportunities

This week I had the honor of speaking at the Kickapoo High School National Honor Society banquet. The topic I presented was seizing opportunities to accomplish the things that you desire most. I decided to recycle some of the presentation for my blog, so here it goes.

To find those things you most desire, I have included a short exercise. The results of this exercise change over time, so I suggest doing this with yourself whenever you are working on personal goals.

Exercise:

Imagine that I have a magic wand. This magic wand removes all kinds of barriers – money, family, peer pressure, education and all other expectations. Any barriers that pop into your head are completely washed away with this magic wand.

• Think about something you’d love to be, or do with your life. 
• Remember, the magic wand removes all barriers; this can be something out of your wildest dreams.
• This should also be something that brings you great joy and a sense of accomplishment.  
• Think to yourself about this wonderful thing you would like to be, or do with your life.
• What specific steps can you take to get there?

You know what’s interesting about most of those barriers that we come up with inside our heads, those barriers the magic wand removed. By far the greatest barrier most of us have against achieving our goals is not in determining what inspires and creates passion in our lives, but rather our unwillingness to get out of our own way.

To help you get out of your own way, I’d like to share 8 keys to capitalize on opportunities:

1. Take 100 percent responsibility for your life - Do not give away your power to someone or something other than yourself.
2. Live your life with purpose - Do what you believe you were put here to do.
3. Be willing to pay the price for your dreams - Successful people find out what it's going to cost to make their dreams come true. Then they find a way to make it happen. Most importantly, they don't complain about the work it takes to achieve their dreams.
4. Stay focused - Every day we’re bombarded with hundreds of tasks, messages and people all competing for our time. This is why the ability to focus on your goals is so critical to achieving those goals. Focusing requires giving up some things in the present because you know the time invested will pay off big-time down the road.
5. Networking - One of the quickest ways to become successful is to find out what the best are doing and learn from them. Finding and nurturing a mentoring relationship and making time to connect with people in your field is a monumentally valuable use of your time and efforts. It’s also one of the best ways to get interviews.
6. Write out a plan for achieving your goals - Writing an action plan for how you're going to achieve your goals is one of the best ways to achieve those goals. Plus, it helps you remain focused.   
7. Never give up - It may sound simple, even obvious, but when you're truly committed to achieving your goals, giving up isn't even an option. You must be willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen. Certainly, you re-evaluate and modify goals, but NEVER GIVE UP!
8. Go after what you want NOW - Top achievers know they don’t have forever, but rather than seeing it as something negative or depressing, they use it to spur them on to go after what they want as energetically and as passionately as possible. 

(Adapted from 8 Success Secrets from Motivational Experts by Michael Jeffreys, May 2003.)

Having had the pleasure of working with the only blind man to summit Mount Everest, Erik Weihenmayer, I have come to a more clear understanding about genuinely eradicating barriers to achieve your goals. Although climbing Mount Everest may not be your dream, there are and will continue to be dreams and goals that seem like mountains to you. I’d like to remind you to SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITIES that will aid you in climbing your personal mountains to make your dreams come true. Achieve your most prized goals.

And remember, opportunities come in many different forms: networking, jobs, volunteering, arts, athletics, and leadership. The list goes on and on. Keep imagining what you most desire (remember to use that “magic wand” to remove the barriers in your path). Then put steps in place to achieve your goals.

Your ability to recognize, cultivate and capitalize on opportunities will blaze the trail to your future.

Peace to you and yours - Jackie