HOW DO I GET THE "CONNECTIONS" I NEED?

 HOW DO I GET THE "CONNECTIONS" I NEED?

I have heard the sentence “Do you have a connection in that company?”, “You need

to know someone there”, “Who referred you?” an umpteenth time. This shows how important connections are in any space where you want to thrive.

Are we on the same page? Let me make it clearer, the word connection used here implies the people or network that you can leverage for one thing or the other that you need.

Your network is your net worth — Tim Sanders..

         

     Over the years, I have seen and heard of a lot of conferences, workshops, and events,

where “access to network” is included as a benefit, I bet you have!

I have been invited to some of those events, where you were told you will meet new

people and i never did…wait a minute. It’s not exactly like I didn’t meet new people

but I mean i didn’t make the connections I needed.

I remember an event I attended in the year 2019, I was so excited about it, for me I

just wanted to have fun which I did. It was an evening hangout with people from my

career space, we had different games to play, picture sessions, finger foods, drinks

and karaoke. At a part during the event, the host of the event called for a time to

network. I remember clearly that I met 6 people who I never followed up with. I

mean the networking session for me didn’t amount to much. Don’t get me wrong,

this is not because those people I met were not great people but for one reason, I

didn’t actually plan to network, so there was no clarity of who I wanted to meet or

why I wanted to meet them.

The importance of strong targeted networks cannot be over emphasized, “You always

need people”, everything you need for the next level is with people. It helps you

achieve feats faster and it gives you a competitive edge sometimes. Making

connections is not about exchanging cards, phone number or begging others for

favors. Experts agree that the most connected people are the most successful.

3 things that will help you make the connection you need

I will like to share three things with you that has worked for me over and over again.

1. The Power of Clarity and Intentionality in

connecting with People

The lack of clarity could put the brakes on any journey to success — Steve Maraboli

If you have read any of my other medium posts, you will know that I preach

intentionality a lot. Let’s see how intentionality and clarity play out in making the

connections you “need”. Yea! I had to put that in a quote, you can also go back to

look at the subject of this post, It says “How do I get the connections I need?”

Why should you focus your energy on making the connections that you don’t need? I

count it as a waste of your time and their time.

At one point or the other in life, you will be in need of different people: a referee,

sponsor, mentor, coach, friend, business partner… the list is endless. In making

connections with people, you have to be clear on two things:

· What you need?

· Who you need?

For example, a person wants to write a book aimed at easing the academic tension of

students, in my opinion

· What he needs is to get his book to a large targeted audience

· Who he needs is an academic influencer

Clarity helps you to be strategic in making connections and getting predefined

results. Until you have clarity, intentionality cannot do its magic.

Once you are clear on what you need and who you need, then you can be intentional

on building strategies to meet them. You have to go to places where they can be

found, some of them may be on social media, at conferences, workshops, meetups,

etc. The key thing is to know where you can meet them and then reach out to them.

You don’t have to go for all the events happening around, all you need is to map out

the events that are relevant to you — where you can meet the people that you need.

       

      Earlier this year, I knew I wanted to do better with my personal finance and I needed a finance coach. I started looking out to listen to some finance coaches, I was in sync with one of them so I reached out to her on Instagram. I think I have to mention that when you are reaching out to people, don’t just say “Hi”, or “Hello” be clear on the reason you are reaching out to them upfront, some of them have too many people reaching out to them and to avoid being ignored, be clear on what you want when you reach out to them. I reached out to her on Instagram and she agreed to help me get better with my personal finance, I will tell you the full story in my next point, but please be clear and intentional about the connections you make.

   I will like you to ask yourself these questions and answer it on your notepad

· What do I need?

· Who do I need?

· Where can I meet who I need?

             To be continued...

              ©Preshy