For whatever reason, I woke up in the middle of the night. I entertained myself by watching the stars outside our bedroom window as I reviewed my day by reliving the networking lunch I attended.
I somehow composed in my head a much funnier blog post about networking than what I’m typing here. But how nice that I was cracking myself up last night. Funny or not, I had an epiphany about networking, or rather than calling it “networking” let’s call it, “reaching out and connecting with others”. But mostly this is about networking and the painful lessons learned.
Creating my own vision and ideas requires that I also create a follow-up to those ideas. That means it’s time to leave my awesome sunny house, pull myself away from watching the bird feeder activity, shake some hands and parlay connections to speaking opportunities. Opportunities won’t drop into my life and bite me on my cute…well, you get the idea. I have to take some action in order for the results to meet me where I am.
Therefore, yesterday I attended the second networking event in two weeks. I haven’t done that since the days I worked in the corporate world. Thankfully, I’m no longer mingling and talking about how I grow a company’s ROI through my strategic marketing plans. Now I’m talking about our humanity, something 30 years ago I never would have guessed I’d be talking about. Something that’s not the least bit mainstream and boy did I ever feel like I stuck out at this luncheon. After my initial Sesame Street song moment, which of these things doesn’t belong?, I took a breath and chilled. I realized I’m actually really great at sticking out because I can’t make much of a contribution if I water down the thought-provoking ideas I’m sharing.
As I listened to the realtors, the beauty product and healthy food supplement sellers, those in fashion, IT, photography, floral arranging, marketing, travel, fitness, various support services, I realized we’re not so different after all.
Just like me, it seemed like every person that attended that luncheon desires a meaningful life. They either genuinely already feel good about what their work is or want to. Purposeful work is a heartfelt desire but often isn’t pursued for a gazillion reasons. When I was ready to move into what I’m doing now, I had to let go of don’t attract attention to you. And here I am, an introvert networking to find public speaking opportunities where I’ll be seen and heard. Introverted or extroverted, as we create connections we all show our vulnerabilities as we allow each other to see where we are in our personal process. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person feeling awkward.
Networking is nowhere near as fun as a walk in the woods, listening to music, painting, taking photographs, or going to the dentist.
But my new intention is to have fun with it because it’s about connecting with others, and that’s in part, what my work is all about. And I get to practice stating what I do in a New York minute (fat chance). In truth, I find the practice of the networking 30-60 second elevator speech stupidly unoriginal. We’re still doing that eh? But I give it a go. “I assist humanity”. Ugh. “I guide, those interested, in how to process their spiritual awakening”. Ugh, ugh. “I create content, for those interested, in uncovering their light”. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Suddenly I want to be a realtor so I can say “I sell houses and help people realize their dreams”. BS but good BS.
I give it another whirl, “I create and share content around spiritual awakening. I share experiences, ideas, and tips to assist, those interested, in creating a better reality so that they’re excited to live a life and blah blah blah”. Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh. I’m over the time limit and sounding seriously dangerously like someone on a mission to brainwash people and surely the FEDs will come after me.
No. I don’t enjoy networking and I loathe the elevator talk.
If you want to know what I do, just look at my website. If you’re a branding person don’t look. My ideas are evolving and morphing as I share my experiences. The intention is to connect on this sometimes very confusing but often pretty amazing journey of introspection, energy management, growth, and life lessons. There it is. Bite me. Oh wow, that’s my elevator speech, isn’t it?
I’ll go to more of these networking luncheons until I realize that’s not where I need to be. I’ll also realize I don’t want speaking engagements right now.
It’s time to get out of my own way.