…but I’m learning how to network like a pro.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything here. I’d apologize for that, but I’m not really sorry. I’ve been rethinking my whole business strategy and had pretty much decided to shut down completely because there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few years… To be a success in any type of business you need to have great networking skills. And, quite frankly, I suck at networking.

But I made a promise to myself this year, and that is that I would give myself one more year. And if I couldn’t achieve the level of success that I intended for myself by the end of 2010, then I will pack it in and explore a new path.

Once that decision was made, it was easy to determine the next step — learn how to improve my networking skills, both online and off. I’m such an introvert that it’s really hard for me to interact with people. I don’t mean just meeting new people. Even friends and colleagues I’ve known for years have felt the effects of my introvertedness as I go through long periods where I don’t keep in touch, don’t know what to say or even how to act around them. I’m not kidding when I say that I am seriously socially challenged! I am the epitome of what Dr. Ivan Misner calls a “cave dweller” in his book Networking Like a Pro.

You know how they say that once you make a decision, the Universe does everything in its power to get you what you need to succeed? It wasn’t long after I’d made my decision that Dr. Misner’s book appeared in my path. And I have to tell you, it’s changed my way of thinking about networking and how to go about it.

I had always been under the impression that you had to be the ultimate extrovert to be a successful networker. You know, the life of the party, totally outgoing, winner of every popularity contest kind of person. And that is so not me.

Reading “Networking Like a Pro” taught me that even an introverted, bookwormish, stand-in-the-corner-and-speak-when-spoken-to (if you’re lucky) person like me can be successful at networking if they play to their strengths. Better yet, the book actually gives concrete examples and strategies that I can use to make myself more comfortable in group settings.

If you follow me on Facebook you’ll no doubt have noticed that I’ve been talking about this book a lot over the last little while. I’ve been more active on Facebook in the last few weeks, and it’s becoming easier every day because of the things I’ve learned while reading it. I can’t help but talk about it because I know how hard it is for shy people and beginning networkers to really get out there and do it. And there are so many examples of people doing it wrong too! I know that I’m nowhere near a networking pro, and probably never will be, but I’m confident that I can hold my own now.

If you want to take your networking skills to the next level, you should read this book. And now is a great time to pick up a copy. It’s International Networking Week from today (Feb. 1) until February 4th, and to celebrate Dr. Misner is giving away a six-month subscription to Networking Pro which includes access to the resources at NetworkingNow.com. You can find out more details here: Networking Like a Pro Special Offer. (not an affiliate link)

Happy International Networking Week!

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Well, new to me anyways

As a reward for completing Day 3 of Dr. Mani’s CHD Awareness Squidoo Challenge (yes, I’m way behind), I’ve allowed myself to spend a half hour catching up on reading twitter posts and I’m finding some really cool stuff here.

First up, Merlene made my life so much easier today by blogging about a Firefox add-on called Vertigo. By putting the tabs down the side I can see everything I’ve got open without having to do the horizontal scroll. (Kinda sounds like a really bad line dance, doesn’t it?) I don’t think I could cope with anywhere near 74 tabs at one time, but I’ve got 12 open now and this morning that was driving me nuts.

From there I wandered over to check thefluffanutta’s twitter page (it’s a goldmine for Squidoo users) and found myself checking out a post on the SquidU forums which led me to this article by Darren Rowse on The Benefits of Twitter for Bloggers.

Reading that gave me some ideas for how I could use Twitter a little more productively, and it also led me to the Treader by Bob Lee. With that installed now I can tweet directly from my Google Reader. And considering how many times I’ve thought about tweeting about a blog post and procrastinating because I didn’t have Twitter open at the time, I’m really excited about the possibilities of this.

Not bad for a half-hour of semi-random trail wandering. As things go it’s a pretty good reward for having a productive and wakeful day. Sure, I could’ve opted for a nap as my reward, but if I make it until midnight it will be the first time in over a year that I’ve been able to stay awake all day.

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