This post, and the next couple in the series (which may not be this week) are me talking through what I think about networking and where I want to go. Hopefully will be useful.

By networking I mean connecting with people, not running cable! With that in mind, I think if you ask most people about networking you might get all of these as responses:

• I believe that networking is a good thing
• I'm not very good at networking
• I know that networking is supposed to be good for me, but how does it apply in this situation (where is the pay off?)
• There are so many online options, which should I pick?
• My network isn't very big

I think relatively few would totally disdain networking, it's more about trying to justify the time to get some return.

Networking, much like most blogging, is a leap of faith. You're investing a small amount of time and effort on an ongoing basis in the hope that somewhere along the line that investment will pay off. No guarantees, and that keeps a lot of people out of the game. I get that, but before you stop reading, I'd encourage you to think about how much work you're investing. Suppose you commit to blogging once a week and you spend 15 minutes doing so. Let's value your time at $50 an hour, so in a year you'll have made an investment worth $1300. Not small, but not a fortune either. My first question would be 'how else could you spend $1300 on marketing yourself that might have a greater chance of a guarantee?'.

Of course there's a difference between putting a valuation on your time and actually writing a check, but it's a place to start. If you had the cash, you could...buy a really nice suit, have your resume professionally done, maybe hire a cheap head hunter? All of those might increase your chances, but are there guarantees?

Networking takes time, but I'd argue less effort to do if you develop a pattern. There is still a cost in time, and often an additional cost if you have to travel, buy an entry ticket, or buy a few drinks. Would you rather blog to a faceless/nameless crowd, or take the 50 business cards, or have good conversations with 5 people. Any guarantee of return?

So if you can't stand the idea of investing some time/effort without a guarantee, I'm not the guy who is going to convince you to network!

There's more, and it luck it will be more interesting too!