Networking Tip: Are You Using the Act of Connecting Strategically?

by Scott

Have you ever met a great contact, then found yourself cautious to email them months later because you’re not sure if they even remember who you are? I sure have.

I’ve wrote about this before, but the biggest networking fail is consistency.

A great networker strategically massages his network in order to turn acquaintances into trusted professional contacts and friends. The methodology for doing this is simple – consistently provide value to these acquaintances without expecting anything in return. Just like content marketing, time + value is the magic formula.

Anyone who’s attempted this realizes that building relationships this way can be challenging and time-consuming. After all there’s only so many relevant articles to ping, feedback to provide, or potential hires to source …
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Weeklong 2 | Diligence Toward Friendships

by Scott

This is post is part of my Weeklongs Project.

Last week I hung out with a non-tech friend every single day of the week. It was great.

One thing about the tech scene is that there is no off switch to value creation. There’s no shortage of work to be done, networking events to go to, classes to attend, drinks to grab, and blog posts to write. As a hard-charger hellbent on progress, I’ve prioritized these things since I got into the scene.

I’ve always enjoyed great friendships outside of my industry. But in my self-imposed sprint to get ahead, I can’t say I’ve approached maintaining many of these relationships with the same diligence I have with my “contacts.”

Over the past year I’ve …
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Clever Trick to Make Friends in a Co-Working Space

by Scott

So I’ve been working in this tech co-working space called General Assembly for about two months now. Although the interior is quite nice, I’d have to say the best part about being in the space is the individuals that comprise the community. You’re surrounded by young innovators working on awesome projects across industries. It’s incredible to think about what’s possible if one were to bond all these people together for one project.

In a space like this it would be very easy to spend entire days at a time just chatting with people from different companies. However, if we all did this nothing would ever get done. Its no surprise then to see people heads down most of the day working …
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