<p>I've met so many new people since I started this <a href="http://www.savvynetworker.com/" title="Savvy Networker">networking</a> thing that keeping track has become a new source of misery for me. I just got an email from someone named Deb. Apparently I met her Friday. Her email included a last name, but in order for me to remember who Deb is I will have to sort through a pile of business cards and brochures that has grown to unmanageable proportions. Couldn't Deb have said more than "It was great to meet you yesterday". Maybe something like "Remember me? We raved about the chocolate truffles" or "I am the lady with 6 cats". Deb, please don't make me go to that pile! </p> <p>Yesterday started at 7am with a talk to a Rotary, an <a href="http://www.ewomennetwork.com/chapterHomePage/chapterEvent.php?chapterCode=WA101" title="eWomen Network Luncheon">eWomen</a> luncheon, a meeting with an auction committee and ended at Christ the King's Fall Festival. I want to email Deb back and say "more information please", but no respectable networker would ever step in it that deep. Of course, had I been following the steps of my networking guru <a href="http://www.savvynetworker.com/" title="Savvy Networker">Zita Gustin</a>, I could flip open my little notebook and find a notation I made on Deb, along with her business card and the reason Deb might even want to send me an email saying it was nice to meet me. Following Zita's advice, I would have already written and mailed her a note on my way home Friday extolling Deb's virtues. Come to think of it I haven't sent Zita a thank you note for the amazing seminar she gave and I attended last week on this very subject. &nbsp;THANK YOU ZITA! Hugs hugs kiss kiss.</p> <p>It's not that I don't want to be in touch with Deb. I bought one of those <a href="http://www.bizcardreader.com/?gclid=CLLStey2tJYCFQJNagodSTzyLg" title="Biz Card Reader">electronic card swipers</a> but it required setting up something or other on my computer. I bought <a href="https://www.sendoutcards.com/cgi-bin/trncustomer.pl?home_page:" title="Send Out Cards">Send Out Cards</a> so someone could send something out for me, but I still have to go through those piles, get organized and type in the data from all those cool people. I bought a case of <a href="http://www.threebythree.com/" title="three by three">note cards</a>, again with good intentions and well, I still have that case of note cards and good intentions. </p> <p>There in lies the guilt and pain of networking. The Pile. Let me guess. You have one too? Does your pile include business prospects, the possibilities of friendships and stuff you would probably buy if you converted those prospects into clients and friendships into support? I can look around my office in any direction and see piles that if organized and cataloged would likely greatly enhance my bottom line. I have the pile from the <a href="http://www.ewomennetwork.com/conf2008/index.html" title="eWomen Conference">eWomen Conference</a> I attended in July in Dallas, the pile from <a href="http://www.afpnet.org/" title="Association of Fundraising Professionals">Association of Fundraising Professionals</a> and the pile from <a href="http://www.nweventshow.com/home.html" title="Northwest Events Show">Northwest Events Show</a>. I have lots of mini piles from breakfast meetings, luncheons and mixers. Short of hiring a personal assistant, I doubt those piles will disappear and worse yet, I may never connect with those cool people. </p> <p>Networking requires followup. Followup requires organization. Organization requires a system. A system requires learning. Learning requires time. </p> <p>I can smell it now. The aroma of a fresh baked chocolate cake cooling in the kitchen waiting for my <a href="http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1715,148185-231193,00.html" title="Cream Cheese Frosting">fluffy cream cheese frosting</a>. The pile can wait for another day.</p> 2008-10-19T23:23:40Z -16.3939 357 1997 true 17 11050 the-misery-of-networking 6 2008-10-23T13:11:05Z 2008-10-23T13:11:05Z

Networking requires followup. Followup requires organization. Organization requires a system. A system requires learning. Learning requires time. HELP!

0 2009-02-24T09:46:39Z