Check your Networking Foundation First

Welcome to my friends from the San Joaquin Valley Black Chamber of Commerce, who so graciously allowed me to be their speaker today as part of their Business Presentations Series.

We had a great time, but for those who missed the first part of the presentation, I'll recap it over the next few days.

Before you even begin consider social media and social networking, check your networking foundation to make sure you have rock-solid principles and have developed positive habits.

• Are you willing to think long-term? Networking is definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme.
• Is your goal to develop relationships? Or just sell and move on.
• Are you networking with like-minded people? You don't have to be around people who are similar to you, just people who agree that networking is built around relationships.
• Do you seek to find something in common with people? You can be as different as imaginable, but once you discover that you have something special in common, the rest of the differences go away.
• Do you seek to give first? Networking is about give-and-take. Notice that the "give" is first.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the positive in-person networking traits that are even more important on social media.