People get the wrong idea when they hear the word “networking”. Even some people who network don’t have a good understanding of what true networking is about.
Networking is about establishing a collaborative, long term social and/or business relationship with someone in order to help one another accomplish goals. Networking is not about trying to make a dollar every time you get someone’s contact information. Yes a good number of people network in order to reach financial goals, but know that someone can be a great networker and never make a dime from their contacts.
You may think that what I’m telling you is strange, being that I created ValdostaConnect.com to be a social and business network. My vision for the site is to unite as many people as possible who has ever had a connection to Valdosta in order for us to truly network- to share with other members, who we are, what we do, and what we want to accomplish in order to help each other accomplish goals. Now for some, that goal may be business related, but for others, that goal may be to be better informed about what’s going on in the community so that they can make better decisions.
ValdostaConnect.com is a fun place to log on and share fond memories and current family photos, but what if
- you are looking for a tutor for your kids- or a program to help them become better students so that they will not have
problems going to college
- want to find out what it’s really like to be a nurse or lawyer
- need to find a good mechanic
- want to avoid wasting money on a bad movie
All of the above involves some level of networking. So don’t be afraid when you hear the word, because getting contacted by pushy salesmen is not what this website is about. I am the founder of ValdostaConnect, but I don’t blindly send site messages or emails to members that are just sales ads. Nor do I post ads in comments on members’ profile pages. I consider this spam (and this type of contact goes against our member policy).
I encourage everyone on the site to use ValdostaConnect.com to make sincere connections (network) in order to find helpful information to accomplish your goals. But, don’t only seek to find information for yourself, please be willing to share what you know to help others (you will be surprised that what you thought was useless can help someone in a big way).
Listen to a radio blogcast about “true networking”. Although it is in a business context, they explain what true networking is about.
Sincerely,
Eric Jackson
ValdostaConnect™
