Networking 101 - You have to focus on You too

Networking 101 - You have to focus on You too

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd

Do you focus enough on you?  Strange question you may think, but here’s the thing. 

It  is always a good thing to focus on the other person at the right time, in fact it is critical to focus on the other person at the right time.  Having said that, first of all you need to understand yourself.  You need to understand who you are, what the difference is that you make.  What it is that you do, how you do it and why other people need whatever it is that you are selling.  You need to understand that your credibility needs to be intact and that you can and do meet the deliverable requirements.

Nick Heap calls this Your Core Process, whilst Roger Hamilton calls this “Being in your flow”.  Penny Power who is the founder of Ecademy (www.ecademy.com) calls this Emotional Understanding of your Self, your Emotional Wealth. 

Whatever you call it, it needs to be done and established before you start networking, or enter into any kind of networking discussion with anyone – if you want to come across as a ‘real’ person or the genuine article.

So take some time out, sit down with yourself and have a ‘heart to heart’.  Ask yourself the question – who are you?  What difference do you make, and if you don’t know, ask yourself what difference is it that you would like to make?  Be honest with yourself (and that does not mean that you have to beat yourself up).  Set yourself some realistic goals and when you know which direction it is that you are going in – so will the people that you engage with, believe me!

The time that you invest in yourself, will always yield far greater returns than the time that you don’t.
           
Nikki Viljoen is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist and she can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za.