Part V
How to boost and utilise your personal network
Starting with hello is good manners, as well as being a strategy for getting a wider connection base, but it need not all be about business. Plenty of people are looking for Mr or Ms Right. You can apply the same strategies we’ve been using throughout this book to your personal life.
Read the following chapters to learn:
• how to turn acquaintances into friends
• about finding Mr or Ms Right
• how to join a voluntary organisation.
Chapter 14
Networking socially
Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one!’
C.S. Lewis
Whatever your belief of where we originated from, people as a whole are sociable creatures; we were put on this earth to pair up, reproduce and build communities. It’s our natural role in life so it makes sense to talk about building relationships with others on a more personal level, not just for business.
There have been plenty of relationships forged purely for friendship and even romance, and what tickles me is that we predominantly feel quite happy chatting to strangers when we don’t have ‘the pressure’ of making a business connection on our shoulders but are able to simply be ourselves in a relaxed environment.
Think about the groups of friends you had when you were at school or university and how simple it was to make new friends, particularly as the group of friends you were acquainted with joined forces with others as they came along ...
