Monday, October 13, 2008

It's All About the Network, Baby!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the economy (as many people have) and how to weather the proverbial storm of the stock market and everything else. Networking has constantly been on my mind lately. The value of "paying it forward" within your network cannot be underestimated, really.

One of the things that I've learned over my career (and my life, really) is that working your network of friends, family, and contacts is one of the most important things that you can do. Even if you only have a few friends, you're connected to a powerful force that can help you get jobs, save money on projects, or simply get a great person to do a project for you. It's amazing, really, what a good word can do for you.

I like working my network, and I like giving great referrals. It's a pleasure to connect my friends and family with people that I know and trust. So, if you need a great mechanic in the Bellevue area, I know one. Want to plan a wedding or a party with a spunky lady? Yep, I know a great wedding planner (she didn't do my wedding, but I would have used her if I had known her then!). Want an energetic event planner who will watch all of the details? I know one of those too!

Or perhaps you need to outsource a writing project. Let me tell you, my friend and colleague will write butt-kicking copy for you any day of the week. You gotta check him out... he's never written bad copy for me, seriously.

In down economic times, it's more important than ever that we work our networks and help people out. Most the links that I provided above were not solicited, I just want to make sure that you know that I will send out referrals within my network any time... what can you do to help people out too? How can you get people in your network connected today?

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