“I just can’t do one more online meeting. “
“You can’t get business that way.”
“My clients need me more.”
Have you ever said, or thought, any of these things about a virtual event or while involved in a conference organization during the pandemic? It’s not the first time I’ve heard them, which is why they merit a mention here.
When you say these things out loud or to yourself, it’s likely that your first reaction is that you’re fed up, the organization is faulty, or you’ll just hang on until things get back to “normal.” But consider for just a moment that maybe the networking barrier in these scenarios is actually you.
Continue Reading How Zoom Fatigue May Be Blocking Your Relationship Development Efforts (And How to Fix It)
If you’ve been following along here at Zen for any length of time (or even just the last few weeks), then you’ll know that I love September and the promise of a fresh start that it brings (also because the fall is my favorite season).
In just over a week, it will be September 1st. As I mentioned last week, I like to think of September as a brand new start, much like the school year used to be. It’s a chance to begin again and look at your goals and plans with a fresh set of eyes.
The other day, I saw that someone said that August feels like the Sunday of the year. This feels really true. And bearing that in mind, it can be a good time to use this “Sunday” to prepare for the remaining months of the year – if you’re a preparer-type. With just about two weeks left in the month and a lot of clients and colleagues out on vacation, you may want to take a look around your physical or home office and identify what is working well or where the challenges are, in three different areas, to set yourself up for a successful September. 
Raise your hand if you’re burned out, frustrated, tired, over it.
If you have zoom fatigue, raise your hand.
There’s no quick fix for relationship development. But there ARE some quick things you can do today to advance either the first step in your relationship with someone or the next step. When you think of networking and relationship building as a series of smaller actions that you can take to help weave the fabric of stronger relationships, it stops feeling so overwhelming and starts feeling like something you can build into your everyday schedule. So whether you’ve got five minutes or an hour, you can strengthen your network today: 
One of my favorite running jokes is “How do you know someone has run a marathon?”
As a lawyer, in addition to the network of clients and potential clients that you’ve built, you’ve also built a network of referral sources. This may be formal or informal (or more likely, both). One of the most overlooked opportunities for further developing your relationships with these sources of referrals is content – not only does it help you to get to know these sources better, but it also provides you with collateral that you can use with your primary client/potential client networks. 
I’ll tell you a secret – the pandemic may not be over, but you can still be networking. Even when networking is primarily done in a virtual way, the substance of it has not changed; only the platform.