Networking: When It’s OK to Lie
I know the ten commandments suggest not to, but sometimes, thou SHALT lie:
If you’re on a night out, your friend asks whether her hair looks weird – and it does, and there’s nothing she can do about it right now, tell her no. If your brother was right in the middle of an important interview and accidentally let out a massive (and noisy) fart, then he asks you – mortified – if you think the interviewers laughed at him after he left, say, “They probably don’t even remember”.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that I’m usually all about not lying – not being a fake, schmoozy, gross caricature of everything people hate about networking.
But sometimes: you need to. Here are those times:
(1) When extracting yourself from…
How To Deal With Boring Conversations
I grabbed the stranger by her shoulders and she stopped talking, mid-sentence – shocked.
“Dude,” I lowered my voice, and looked straight in her eyes. “What. Makes you think. That I care this much about you? You called this meeting. I have a lot to do today. I don’t even want to be here. STOP. TALKING. ONLY. ABOUT. YOURSELF. It is SO. BORING.”
The Simple Two-Minute Trick That’s A GAME-CHANGER for your Business Or Career: Part ONE
Have you ever said, “I hate networking”?
Chances are, you have – if not out loud, then quietly to yourself through gritted teeth, as you walk into a work event.
Here’s the thing: most of what you hate about networking? Isn’t actually networking. It’s schmoozing and bragging – and it very rarely works.
REAL networking happens gently over time, and most over email.
That sounds a little less scary, right?
A fundamental rule of networking that’s effective (and actually fun) is that it’s a long term relationship – not a one night stand.
So while that first in-the-flesh meeting is important when it comes to making industry friends – just like a first date is important when it comes to having a romance – it’s what happens afterwards that makes the BIG difference to your network.
And it’s your network that’ll make the BIG difference to your business or career – and to whether you are scrabbling to find clients or your dream clients are scrabbling to work with you.
The simple two-minute trick that will build your network and make you stand out: …
This Is The Most Important Moment Of Your Life. Don’t Fug It Up.
People throw the word “unbelievable” around a lot. But sometimes something IS unbelievable. Like, you actually can’t believe it’s happening. To you. But…it is. It is.
For reasons that have been kept secret, you…
