Welcome to the Mega-List of Networking Resources.
This is an ever-evolving list, to which I’ll always be adding more resources. Please email me at daniela@101conversations with any topic requests, suggested resources, or just to say hi.
In each tab, you’ll find different types of resources, including books, articles, podcasts, courses, videos, and apps. I want you to be able to learn the most you can about building an authentic networking, regardless of your chosen method of learning and digesting information.
- Getting Started
- Connecting With People In Person
- Keeping in Touch
- Connecting Online
- Connecting With Influencers
Getting Started
Books
Get Clients Now by C.J. Hayden
A great place to start your networking efforts. She shares an extensive list of marketing activities, and then guides you through an action plan for getting your business off the ground. I read this when I started my tutoring business and revisited it when looking for clients for my website development business as well. It was a great guide in thinking about where to start.
Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port
A guide for how to identify your ideal clients, develop your brand, and build relationships. I read this book to help me think about how to narrow down who to approach to offer my services, and also how to approach them. There are many pieces of actionable advice in here, including how often to connect to people, how to offer them value, and more. There is also a new illustrated edition, which you can purchase here
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
Ferrazzi has achieved business success throughout his life because of his network. In this book, he shares insights on the right mindset and skill-set for making meaningful connections. He also tells stories of famous connectors, including the Dalai Lama and Eleanor Roosevelt. An enjoyable read, it’s a great way to pump up your networking motivation.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The original guide on how to achieve social success. Some of Carnegie’s more famous quotes:
“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.”
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
“Talk to someone about themselves and they’ll listen for hours.”
“Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, ‘I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you.”
Articles
Networking Archive from Entrepreneur.com
Entrepreneur.com is the best resource I’ve found for thought provoking articles on networking and relationship building. Read an article and you’ll find more links for suggested articles that can help you build a network. Beware – you may get sucked in and end up reading articles for hours!
Smart Business Revolution: How to Network
John Corcoran, former Clinton White House writer, believes that the key to success in business and life is having a strong personal network. (Sound familiar?) Here are a handful of his articles on networking, including “The Bill Clinton Guide to Networking,” “5 Killer Shortcuts for Networking at Events,” and “Want to Improve Your Relationships? Drop Out of More Groups.”
Courses
Fizzle is a repository of courses for budding online entrepreneurs. If you are a freelancer, you’ll want to check out their courses on building relationships, including a great overview of the Book Yourself Solid system, and an abbreviated version of Scott Dinsmore’s Connect With Anyone course that focuses on building life-changing relationships. Right now, it’s $1 to sign up for the first month, but even at the usual $35 pricetag, it’s totally worth it.
Connect With Anyone with Scott Dinsmore
Scott Dinsmore built his business by surrounding himself with inspiring people. His tagline is “What would you do if the people around you refused to let you fail?” The course only opens up a few times a year, so if you are finding this outside of a launch time, sign up for the waiting list. And in the meantime, if you’re ready to commit to a course on how to build a thriving network, consider signing up for my 2 week course on how to transform your network.
Podcasts
New Business Networking with Dave Delaney
Delaney’s show focuses on different facets of networking. He interviews different successful business people about how they network. Episodes come out once a week on Thursdays.
Entrepreneur on Fire: Dave Delaney: How to grow and nurture your professional network
Entrepreneur on Fire: John Corcoran: How to leverage relationships to attract more clients
Entrepreneur on Fire: Derek Coburn Talks About Un-Networking
Videos
Marie Forleo is an incredible woman, and a successful one as well. Check out this video to learn her “networking basics.”
Here’s a rundown, but make sure to watch the video anyway.
1. Give, give, give
2. Be present
3. Listen more than you talk
4. Think longterm vs. short term
5. Do not over-commit or feel guilty
6. Be honest – don’t make false promises
7. Take action immediately
8. Only go to things that excite you
Michael Goldberg, a self proclaimed “short 40 year old Jew” is a boxer and a magnetic speaker. Here’s a rundown on the content of his video.
He suggests that, “Networking is a proactive approach to meeting people with the hope of helping them.” He says he likes and wants to connect with 1/3 of people. He also makes a distinction between “serendipitous” and “strategic” networking. Strategic networking is on-purpose and with-purpose. Serendipitous networking can happen on an airplane.
He States 5 Reasons why people network:
1. Business
2. To land a job
3. To learn something
4. For social reasons
5. To solve a problem
The PEEC model – Profession, Expertise, Environment, Call to action
Profession: Who you are, what you do, and with whom
Expertise: Y0ur depth of knowledge as it relates to your business (rattle it off in threes)
Environment: Your target marketplace
Call to action: What do you want? “I’m looking to meet or make a connection with…”
His final request of the audience is to identify their call to action, write down anyone who fits in to it, and contact them.
Connecting with People in Person
Articles
A great article on how to make the most of events. This includes mindset, planning, how you act at the event, and following up afterward. Some of the more salient points are to see strangers as friends you haven’t met yet, be yourself and allow others to be themselves, and only give yourself 3 seconds before going up and talking to a new person.
Podcasts
The Fizzle Show: Honest Techniques to Meet New People
Ah, the Fizzle Show. It’s funny, genuine, and has great insights. In this podcast, you can learn how to plan for in person events, be someone other people want to talk to at the events, and use Twitter to streamline the process. Want the show notes? Check them out here.
In this awesome episode of the Smart Passive Income Podcast, Pat Flynn and Chris Ducker discuss their own friendship and the difference it’s made in their lives, as well as a live event that they put on together.
A Crash Course on Charisma – A Guide to Winning In-Person Encounters with Jordan Harbinger
Jordan Harbinger has an entire website devoted to helping men charm the ladies – but his ideas are more than applicable to networking as well. Learn how to make a great first impression, tips for how to introduce yourself, and the golden rule for making any in person encounter a success.
Body Language
Courses
Body Language for Entrepreneurs
These are 2 Udemy courses by Vanessa Van Edwards, a great teacher who will make you think differently about how you present yourself in every situation, from events to pitch meetings. I had the opportunity to meet her in person at Pioneer Nation, and she was just as genuine and nice as she is in her courses.
Videos
Amy Cuddy discusses the power of body language, including how your body language can actually affect your own self-perception.
Keeping in Touch
Apps
Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs)
CRMs help you set yourself up for success by keeping track of your communications and making sure that you connect with people on a regular basis. Check out this article to learn more about 5 of the best CRMs for freelancers and small businesses.
Mail Apps – Use Your Inbox as a To-Do List
I LOVE Mailbox. It not only helps you stay in touch with people, it uses a system that makes it easy (or easier) to get your inbox to zero. Want to remember to get back in touch with someone? You can set your email to come back into your inbox on a specified date in the future so that you can follow up. Unfortunately, it only works with Gmail.
Boomerang is a desktop app for Gmail that is similar to Mailbox, in that you can choose to “Boomerang” an email back to you in a specified number of days. In addition, you can specify whether you want in boomeranged no matter what, or only if the email hasn’t been opened/clicked/replied to. You can also write an email now and then have it sent automatically in the future, so if you want to get all of your email writing done on Mondays, for example, you can do it.
Google Spreadsheets
If you want to be old-school, you can set up a spreadsheet in Google Spreadsheets or Excel to keep track of all of your points of contact, as well as their outcomes. This may be an easier option for many people who don’t want to learn to keep track of new technology.
Evernote is the king of all online productivity apps. And it’s also an amazing way of keeping in touch. Sick of business cards piling up on your desk? Evernote has a function where you can take pictures of people’s business cards and it will automatically input their information and connect with them on LinkedIn (if you choose).
Don’t want to pay a monthly fee for a Customer Relationships Management tool? No problem. You can set Evernote up to be a CRM. Check out the video below to learn how.
Connecting Online
If you haven’t checked out Meetup.com, do it now. You can find groups in your hometown with similar interests to your own. I suggest looking at the attendees of the events before you go so that you can see if anyone there will be in your list of ideal clients, possible collaborators and colleagues, or mentors. If you find people you want to meet, prepare a few questions for them ahead of time. Also, be sure to use the built in “Good to see you” feature to follow up.
There are many articles about how to make the most of LinkedIn (which I promise to add to this list in the very near future). However, to be successful, you need to do a few basic things:
1. Create a great profile that communicates who you are and what you offer.
2. Join groups of people with similar goals and interests to your own.
3. Contribute regularly to those groups. As always, don’t just post with your latest offerings. Instead, answer other people’s questions and like other people’s posts regularly before you expect them to read your blog articles.
Facebook groups can be powerful. Just in the past few months, I’ve met many people through Facebook groups that have made significant contributions to my business and my life. Seriously. One of them I speak with multiple times a week. I consider him my Mastermind Buddy. (Thanks, Josh.) Again, search for groups of people with whom you have similarities, and follow the above advice for contributing to the groups.
Twitter can be used to connect with and follow up with people at events, and it can also be used to thank people for their awesome online content and ideas.
For more on how to use social media to network effectively, check out:
Jab, Jab, Jab Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk
Vaynerchuk is widely acclaimed as a social media guru. The concept of “jab, jab, jab, right hook” is that you “jab” 3 times by offering value, and then the “right hook” is when you promote yourself.
You can also check out his Skillshare course here.
Connecting With Influencers
Articles
How to Meet New People Who Want To Help Your Business and Careeer by Derek Halpern
Derek Halpern is an online marketing genius, and in this article/video he explains how to reach out to people to actually get a response. To sum it up: When you reach out to people, make sure you are offering something they want. For example, someone offered Derek to transcribe his entire course in return for receiving the course for free.
I love Jeremy and Jason of Internet Business Mastery. They always offer great, actionable advice, and this is no different. They provide a great way for getting the attention of influencers, namely, making a testimonial video explaining how they’ve helped you.
Also available in audio format.
How to Network Your Way to World-Class Mentors with Michael Ellsberg
In a 3 part speech to the recipients of the Thiel Fellowship, Ellsberg explains how to find mentors and teachers outside the classroom by giving them advice and connecting them to other people. It’s very powerful, and also includes a video of the speech if you want to watch it.
How to email influential people—and get responses FAST (plus new free download) by Derek Halpern
In this blog post/video/free download Halpern explains what you should never do when contacting influential people: write long emails, and ask for free things.
He also provides a download with actual transcripts of emails that have worked for him.
