I'm a Die-Hard Networker, But I Have a Confession to Make

I have a confession to make. Well, two.

I hate cold-calling, and I hate rejection. 

Yet, I have supported myself and my family decently for more than 30 years without a weekly paycheck. Over the years, I worked primarily as a business developer and an entrepreneur whose lifestyle depended on me selling something. The hard-nosed sellers call it eating what you kill.

For most of my career as an employee and an entrepreneur, networking was critical to my success. I never held any aversion to networking because I saw it as reaching out to help others, with the unspoken implication that our connection would be based on reciprocity. However, thousands of executives fail to make that critical investment in their careers each day because… 

Some are so aggressive—pounding you daily, waiting for an objection they can overcome—that they easily qualify for the “Shameless Commerce Hall of Fame.”

They fear rejection and do not want to come across as one of the millions of Internet hustlers trying to sell something we do not need or want, which may not even work. Some are so aggressive—pounding you daily, waiting for an objection they can overcome—that they easily qualify for the “Shameless Commerce Hall of Fame.”

There is a big difference between what you fear and the reality. The longer you persist with your excuses for not building a robust professional network, the harder it will be to find your next job. Highly successful executives, even those with a passable career network and who found themselves recently in the job market, say it took twice as long as they thought to find their next role.

Networking is more than just selling; it is about connecting and converting. It is about discovering and building relationships, which requires time and hard work but can yield enormous gratification. 

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