by Romain Ferrié, CEO & Co-Founder of BreathR
Networking is a concept that many people are aware of but really hard to define. Ask to anyone what does networking mean and you will have totally different answers.
Some persons think it is just string pulling to get a job or a way to satisfy selfish career achievements. As far as I am concerned, I strongly believe networking is a vital tool in all aspects of business, from sales generation to career development.
When I turned 20, I had no idea about networking. By that time, I was studying Finance and started to attend financial events to learn more about the profession and jobs I could apply to later on. That was the first time I networked on my own.
During the first event I attended to, I had the chance to meet two great financial analysts who taught me a lot about the finance sector and introduced me to other persons in the field. During the second one, I met someone who was starting a hedge fund and hired me for my first internship. Soon, I realized that Mom was wrong and it does pay to talk to strangers. I was hooked…and kept meeting new people, learn more and get opportunities all along events.
Strong from positive experiences and fully convinced by the interest of networking, I decided to organize events at my university to link people around specific topics. With the success and testified gratitude from my peers, I decided to bridge people on a larger scale and founded BreathR to connect professionals over lunch.
Even if networking is now recognised as a big part for securing a job or advancing a career, entrepreneurs should ensure that they are active networkers, for many reasons:
-
finding mentors: meet people who could inspire and challenge you .
-
promoting your business: networking is by far the least expensive and most effective way to market your new venture.
-
building your company up: you never know who you are going to meet until you effectively meet the person. It could be your perfect business partner, your first investor, your future client, the ideal team member…
-
sharing tips: by meeting people in your field or outside your field, you can get great ideas and learn new skills that will hack your business or way of thinking.
Possibilities and opportunities are big, even exponential. Do your maths, the value of a network grows proportional to the square of its users. So the more people you meet, the more opportunities you get.
However, before meeting new persons, take the opportunity to think before you go out and ask yourself: “Who should I be meeting?”, “Who should I get to know?”, “What do I want to tell them?”, “What do I want to know from them?”. Those questions will improve greatly your experience of networking and help you meet the right people at the right time, depending on your personal journey and your current challenges.
Last but not the least, remember to also serve as a connector. Being able to link two people together , is just as important as forging connections for yourself.
