4 Ways to Build a Professional Network that has Staying Power

A lot of people and entrepreneurs ignore the importance of engaging with others and how much each person impacts your network. An important and crucial part of our career is networking. In order to have a staying power we need to treat networking as a primary factor. When you build up trust within various professionals their credibility towards you and especially your work, impacts what you do and the way others see you, increasing your chances of succeeding.

Once you have a solid relationship with a significant amount of influential people, this will give you more confidence along the way of growing in your professional life. You now have people you can rely on or seek for advice and vice versa, they can reach out to you once they know what you are all about.

Although building a professional network is helpful throughout all your life, keep in mind that your networks will only do so much if they are there for a short moment. We never know where something might lead us;  today’s connection can be a partner someday.

In order to maintain connections we need to find ways to constantly interact with them so they won’t forget us.  It has happened to so many people that believed they have a generous list of contacts but at the moment they had needed them, they were unapproachable.  We don’t have to perceive these connections where we only take advantage or benefit from; these connections can also make great friends. Establishing a friendship or some form of acquaintance with your contact makes maintaining those connections easier and comfortable for everyone.

Another thing to keep in mind is to provide them value in return and not only benefit through them. Once we have established a pretty solid network, there are a few things we need to keep in mind:

1. Find ways to provide value to those in your network. The best way to maintain these connections is to help each other in anything you or they need.  That way, if there is a mutual benefit, that relationship will last and be more reciprocal. This will also allow the other person to build trust towards you and will always keep you in mind for any future projects.
2. Demonstrate that you care to maintain relationships. When you’ve had any type of interaction with someone about something of your interest, don’t stop there, find a way to follow up with your engagement. It’s always good to reach them with subjects of interest for you both. 
3. Establish a system for reaching out with praise. This means that if something great has happened to anyone from your network, acknowledge their achievements; everyone appreciates good gestures from other people.
4. Extend invites to exclusive events. Always include them in events you know might be of interest for them.

We can’t forget that in some point of our lives we will always need a helping hand and it is always best to have in mind who to reach out to in times of needs.

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