Stop fearing the assessment.

Everyone was talking about New Year resolutions. I don’t really make them. Not to brag as I’m far from perfect, but I set goals all year long. And some months I’m better at reaching my goals than other months, but I’m honest.

I’m also honest about networking. Not all relationships turn out the way you want them to when you begin building a quality relationship. People are interesting, myself included!

So as you venture into your networking journey to build 100 ALLSTAR relationships you want to take stock of your current networking skills you want to answer honestly. Don’t fear the assessment or the answers. Be thoughtful about who you want to meet, who you want to meet with, how you meet with them, and why. I know a lot right?

Networking is an art and a science. You can be too programmed or you can seem fake and stiff and no one gets to know you as you build relationships let alone do business with you. If you’re too casual people don’t know what you are capable of doing to help them grow their business. Too casual can be never telling anyone about your accomplishments to not seem like a bragger or a. name-dropper. Do you know why you want to build relationships. What problem or goal are you trying to solve or achieve with people in your network? Do you know your networking goal?

When I began really networking, I was out of work and I knew I needed a job to pay my mortgage and feed my kids but my networking conversations quickly shifted into knowing I needed clients because I wanted to run my own business. I made all the mistakes in networking, attended too many events, moved too quickly to close a sale, shared too much about me, connected with too many people who didn’t have good long-lasting reputations, etc. I did a lot of things right and I started to focus on those skills and habits. Again, still not perfect. As I honed my skills over the years I know how to inspire you to show up as yourself with a goal and a mindset that will allow you to build an ALLSTAR network.

If you want to understand more about your networking status, please take this assessment and then you can set up a call to go over your results. Let’s all Network4Greatness this year. That’s a resolution I can get behind.