7 Ways to Use Networking as a Personal Development Tool

Jess Williams

To accelerate as a business person, you must constantly improve and grow. As the saying goes, “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity.”

In many cases, in order to make a positive change and achieve the desired results, we must change the way we think about things, and often in order to do so, we must change ourselves.

As the creator of Startup ESC, I have personally used networking as a tool for self-development. Emphasizing self-development will take your life to new heights.

Here are seven tips on how to use networking as a self-development tool.

1. Improve relationships

When building a network, you should always focus on building win-win and long-term relationships. This means always being open minded and flexible. Transfer these skills to other aspects of your life and watch your relationships flourish.

2. build confidence

Networking takes you out of your comfort zone, at least when you first start. But like anything, networking becomes more natural over time. Networking builds confidence in dealing with uncomfortable situations and talking to new people.

3. Communication

Effective and targeted networking is the result of good communication skills. Knowing how to talk to people is a great foundation to build on in general. Once communication goes well, focus on adding the right people to your network, not just anyone.

This can be done by asking better questions, being polite and getting to know the individual. Your network also needs to be friendly and diplomatic. Learning this will take your communication skills to a higher level.

4. Active listening

Truly listening is a difficult skill, but to be a good networker, you must be able to listen. If you don’t listen fully, you’ll miss important opportunities.

5. Understanding and acceptance

You will meet many people with different backgrounds and different opinions that you may not agree with. Networking definitely teaches you to be more understanding and accepting of other people’s opinions.

6. Body language

Networking forces us to be more aware of the messages we are sending, even when we are not speaking. Professional networking makes it even more important to make a good impression. You become more conscious of controlling your body language. This will improve her body language so that she can send the right message even when she is not speaking.

7. Being here and now

It’s easy for thoughts to drift by when you’re talking to others, especially if you’re not necessarily interested. But when it comes to business, we know this can be a missed opportunity and create a negative image of you if they find out.

Jess Williams is a mentor at SheSays and has worked in both sales and marketing for over five years. BRWMoreof fast 100 list.

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