This is it! This past weekend was the weekend filled with commencement speeches and graduations – and so it is time for you to take on graduating from simple networking to business development.
Are you willing, I ask you?
As your NYC 62 visiting professor during this month of graduations, I want to offer you the following two questions as a final exam:
Question 1: Where else can you network this year? Here are 2 suggestions to consider: (1) attend non-profit events and galas that resonate with causes you personally support and (2) find at least one new networking opportunity or group that includes people who are networking with those you want to meet as clients and as strategic alliance partners.
Question 2: What are you afraid of? Ask yourself: Why am I not networking more? How can I do it more effectively? Why don’t I have a system for it? What would happen if I really put some effort into it? Why wouldn’t I be successful if I just connected with more people?
At this time of graduations, commencement speeches often inspire, motivate and ignite action.
Here are a few commencement quotes to help inspire you to get out there more with your business and start networking more effectively:
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” ~Beverly Sills
“Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” ~Reggie Leach
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” ~Milton Berle
“Every man is the architect of his own future.” ~Appius Claudius
“Every person you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them.” ~H. Jackson Brown
“The world is your oyster. It is up to you to find the pearls.” ~ Chris Gardner
For extra credit on your final exam, I challenge you to write the commencement speech you would give today’s college graduates if someone asked you to deliver one. Send it to me – I’d love to see it!
May this series of pop quizzes and examinations help you think more clearly about how you can effectively work your networking so you can take your efforts and business to the next level.
