Raise your hand if you’ve received an overly friendly email from a stranger, asking you for a favor.
Everyone? I thought so.
Why do these bug us so much? Aside from the fact that we’re busy enough trying to do our own work, balanced with some personal time, and fitting in helping out people we actually know, the reason is that when a stranger asks us for a favor they’re doing so without having any relationship equity.
Continue Reading Build Relationship Equity First
How can we network better?
Many posts offer the same tips, spun in a different way – and that’s important, because I can always get something out of implementing the tried and true. But when I find something unique, I’m always happy to share it.
Recently, I came across this piece from Branding Magazine, with “5 Tips to Network Like the Pros.” Despite all of the change happening in the legal industry, we still know that relationships are paramount – and maybe even more so than ever.
Bearing that in mind, let’s work on supercharging our networking. Branding Magazine offers 5 tips, but let’s take a look at two of them, and how they relate to the legal industry.
Continue Reading Two Easy Tips to Power Network Like a Pro
Who wants to think about work while they’re on vacation?
I know, the idea is to get AWAY from work. And I fully endorse that. But there are two things I know to be true:
With those two things in mind, you can start implementing the following business development tips during your summer vacation and set yourself up for future success!
Continue Reading Nine Business Development Tips to Practice on Your Summer Vacation
“Don’t talk to people you know.”
“Follow up immediately.”
“Meet as many new people as possible.”
“Jump into social media.”
Is any of this sounding familiar to you?
As you head off to yet another networking event or conference, is someone admonishing you not to spend time with the people you know, but to get “five new business cards” by the end of the evening? Are you dreading yet another long session of small talk about the weather, or worse, politics, with a crowd of people you’ve never met?
Never fear, I’m here to tell you that everything you know about networking may be wrong.
Yep, I said it. It’s wrong.
How can that be? Two important reasons.
Continue Reading Lawyers: Everything You Know About Networking is Wrong
Avid readers of Zen will know that one of my favorite topics is networking. So I was immediately drawn to read J. Kelly Hoey‘s new book, Build Your Dream Network: Forging Powerful Relationships in a Hyper-Connected World, when Mark Beese recommended it in his latest newsletter. I’ve been following Kelly since the early days of Twitter, so her name was also familiar to me, though not her story. She started her career as a lawyer in Toronto, and has wandered a fascinating path since then. Her book jacket tells us that:
J. Kelly Hoey is a writer, investor, connector, and networking expert, lauded everywhere from Forbes (“1 of 5 Women Changing the World of VC/Entrepreneurship”) to Fast Company (“25 Smartest Women on Twitter”). A columnist for Inc.com, she’s appeared on CNBC’s Power Pitch, and her clients include The New Yorker, Coca-Cola, PBS, L’Oréal, Capital One, and Dove.”
Using her own experiences, as well as sharing direct interviews with other successful friends and peers, Kelly illustrates how to build and leverage various networks, and what works and what doesn’t when it comes to networking. Whether you love to network, view it as a necessary evil, or can’t understand why you need to do anything besides work hard at your chosen profession to get more work, this book is for you. Let’s talk a little bit about what Kelly has to say about networking, and then run, do not walk, to buy this book (available in hard copy and electronic).
Continue Reading Build Your Dream Network: A Book Review
I am a couple of days late with this, due to travel, but nonetheless, happy 8th blogiversary to Zen & the Art of Legal Networking! It’s a bit hard to believe that 8 years ago I wrote my first post (Is the Billable Hour on its Way Out? – spoiler alert, it’s still dragging on), and the last eight years have been quite the roller coaster ride, teaching me an endless number of things about networking, writing, discipline, social media, and so much more.
Some fun stats for you – eight years has brought us:
Continue Reading Happy 8th Blogiversary to Zen & the Art of Legal Networking!
The end of this week marks the beginning of December, and we all know what that means…
Holiday party invitations are coming.
For introverts like me, holiday parties are probably not high on your list of exciting December “to dos” – it’s not that we don’t love them; it’s just that they’re rather exhausting. Extroverts may see them as a chance to enjoy a bit of relaxation with friends and meet new people. But no matter how you view holiday parties, they are definitely a key opportunity to network.
Whether you’re a networking pro or feel like there’s room for improvement, every networking experience is a chance to hone your skills. Recently, we held our Regional Conference of the Americas, and invited David Ackert, President of The Ackert Advisory, to facilitate a type of speed-dating session that we refer to as our “referral rendezvous.” We matched our lawyers in groups of 3-4 people, and they had 25 minutes to talk and connect with each other – some of them have known each other for many years, while others were meeting each other for the first time.
David’s networking tools offered a road map to maximize the time invested in each conversation. These tips are valuable not just for speed dating purposes, but across all networking opportunities, so I am sharing them with you today as we head into a whirlwind season of relationship-building possibilities.
Continue Reading Holiday Networking is Coming.
Let’s face it: networking can be hard. Unless you’re someone who thrives on meeting other people (and many of us don’t, including yours truly), networking is something that we consider to be a chore, albeit a necessary one.
So why not pair it with something that you already like doing?
For example, I’ve been a runner on and off for about the last seven years – mostly off (you may remember when I mentioned that running is like content marketing). Over the past year, I’ve really committed to it, and even ran my first half marathon in April. As I’ve posted about my runs on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, I’ve found a community of runners among my existing network – including of my own lawyers. It turns out that quite a few of my lawyers are runners themselves.
Continue Reading Networking Tip: Find Your Niche
Next week, I’m heading to Tokyo for our Asia Pacific Regional Conference, and the following week, I’ll be off to Austin for the Legal Marketing Association’s Annual Meeting (and yes, I’m running my half-marathon in between those two, in a city that is not my home). Because of this, I’ve got conference networking on the brain. Much of what I want to say about conference networking I’ve already said here at Zen, so instead of rehashing it, I want to round-up some of my favorite posts and advice for networking at conferences right here for you. I’m also throwing in a couple of posts related to general networking, and adding in how you can apply the advice to conferences:
The two tips in here are to embrace Facebook (really, social media in general) and that business cards are back. In terms of social media, you want to be using this before, during and after a conference – before the conference, use the tips suggested in the post to find and connect to the speakers and attendees at the event that you’d like to meet, and set up networking opportunities. While things can happen organically, wouldn’t you rather make sure that you didn’t leave them up to fate? During the conference, do the same. When you meet someone, or see a speaker that you like, add them to your LinkedIn connections with a personalized note reminding them of your connection or complimenting them about something that they said. After the conference, add anyone that you missed and arrange to follow up with them where appropriate. Ensure that you have plenty of business cards with you, that they’re up to date with your current information, and are memorable – people were clamoring for my unique cards at the recent awards ceremony I went to in London, even though they were already members of a competing network.
Continue Reading The Value of Conference Networking
Although it’s officially tomorrow, I thought I’d use today to mark Zen & the Art of Legal Networking’s SEVENTH “blogiversary.” It’s hard to believe that it’s been seven years since I started blogging, and even more, that I’m still enjoying it. Here’s a roundup of the anniversary posts that I’ve done:
The 7th anniversary gift is typically copper or wool, and a fun fact for those of you who may not know me well is that I am a very fast crocheter. It’s a skill I learned from my grandmother at a young age, and one I’ve kept up through the years, often making gifts for family and friends. A GREAT way to take advantage of a love of crocheting is by donating your time (and wool!) to some excellent causes, which is something I do on a yearly basis. Two things I do are crocheting scarves for our troops (although it’s often warm during the day where they’re deployed to, the dramatic temperature drops at night, and in the winter, mean it can get a bit cold, so they do actually need scarves) and crocheting hats for cancer patients undergoing chemo who have lost their hair. Here are the links for those who’d like to use their own knitting or crochet skills to do the same, or who’d like to make a monetary gift to support these awesome causes!
Continue Reading Happy 7th Blogiversary to Zen & the Art of Legal Networking!