The other evening my neighbor and good friend who works at Marcum & Kleigman invited Lori Alexy and me to a networking function at the Chatteau Briand in Carle Place.
At the event, we met a bunch of really interesting people and even saw a few old friends. At first, I didn’t really want to go. But when I got there and started to meet all these really neat people, I was glad I was there.
I get invited to a lot of these types of events. When I first started HJMT, I would go to networking events at least two to three times a week, just to get to meet people in the community.
My sister who co-owns Elite Food Service in Farmingdale with her husband, asked me about networking when she first started in her business.
“I don’t really understand it,” she said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“It just seems so superficial. You don’t really get to know people and go from one person to another,” she said.
Interestingly, my husband who also owns Topper Realty Corporation in Long Beach asked me the same question.
“The point of networking,” I said, “is to meet people, then see them again at another networking event and then see them again. When you keep seeing them, you start to form a relationship. They introduce you to their friends and you introduce to your friends and the next thing you know, you have a nice sized network of friends.”
Networking goes beyond just meeting someone once or twice. The right way to do it is to get together for a cup of coffee on a regular basis and really get to know the person.
I never thought of networking as superficial. I just think it’s fun to meet new people and learn as much as I can about them!
