Networking: Four Steps of Your Networking Plan

Networking is one of the most important skills you can ever learn. I guess the question is, "What is Networking?" Essentially networking is the skill of developing or building a relationship with people that you do not know. The art of networking is to develop your own network which is simply a group of people in which you can share your ideas, information, your resources plus you can introduce your network members with each other to help each of your network members towards a common goal.

In the book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill talks about building your network into your Mastermind Group which is simply a refined network that will help you in your path towards obscene wealth and success. There are many examples of people in the book Think and Grow Rich that built their own networks to help them achieve the success they are looking for.

In the chapter, Desire, Napoleon Hill talked about how Edwin C Barnes had the Desire to become a business partner of Thomas A Edison. He achieved his objective by building a network that helped him get to the point where he was an equal and become the partner of Thomas Edison.

Knowing where and how to start building your network is the toughest challenge. Below I have set out four basic steps as part of your Networking Plan.

Step 1. Define Your Desire

Napoleon Hill teaches us in Think and Grow Rich that you can only achieve what you truly Desire and this is also true of networking. What is your desire of building your network and the people in your network?

For example your Desire of your network might be to build a network of like minded businesses, for instance you might be a builder and your network you want to build might include painters, decorators, architects, Loan specialists etc. The Desire of your network maybe to bring 60% of your business from your network.

Essentially what you must do when starting to build your network is to identify what you Desire your network to be. Make sure that you write out your Desire at the top of the page so that you can easily visualize what your Desire is.

Step 2. Set Out Your Goals

Once you have a clear Desire, your next step is to define the goals of that desire. Earlier I gave you the example of a network that you might desire as a builder. The desire of the builders' network was to have painters, decorators, architects, loan specialists in the network. In the goals section of this four step process you must identify specific targets.

In Napoleon Hills chapter, Autosuggestion he states that for you to achieve your Desire it must be something that you can see as tangible. Simply having the desire to be Rich will never allow you to achieve anything, but having the desire to make $400,000 Cash is a tangible desire and goal you can achieve. The same is true of networking.

If you are building your network, you need to state in your goals specifically which painters, decorators and architects you want to be apart of your network. You should write those tangible goals down because these are the people you want to build your plan around to achieve your network.