GUEST POST – The Networking Cheat Sheet by Scott Bradley

1. Be Real/Transparent
On the internet you can be “anyone you want to be”, but one thing you will learn quickly is that if you are not fully honest with people about who you really are, you will lose their respect faster than white on rice. The more transparent you are, the faster you can gain someone’s trust!

How to Be Transparent: Create a blog/youtube channel/facebook profile and participate actively in the communities. These are a few of the big ones, and obviously there are many more profiles you can create in this ever growing online space…so the choice to add more things to your plate is up to you.

2. Be Yourself
I once went to a conference where the presenter quoted her little girl as saying, “Be yourself, everyone else is taken.” Good advice when you think about it. Why try being like someone else when you are your own unique person. Be yourself whether you’re operating in the online space or in the real world.

How to Be Yourself: Share interesting facts about yourself that highlight your uniqueness compared to other individuals on your profiles in your social networks.

3. Have One True Voice
Amid all of the networking sites and places you interact, be sure to stay consistent about who you are, what you do, and how you can help people. Everyone has one true gift to offer the world. Let others know what yours is and do your best to keep that thought about you in front of other people.

How to have one True Voice: Figure out what makes you different than everyone else, and then create a story around it so that people can identify with what you are sharing and how you are “branding yourself.” If you do it right people will refer to you as, “The (fill in the blank) guy/girl.”

4. Integrity Always
One of my teachers in college taught me something I will never forget…that was “Do what you say you are going to do.” This one sentence sums up integrity in 9 simple words. Follow this philosophy and people in your network will always respect you for staying true to your word.

How to Maintain your Integrity: If you have to let someone know you can’t keep your word, be honest and tell them. And if you are running behind on some things, let them know that too. Open communication is a beautiful thing.

5. You Can’t Make Everyone Love You
The sooner you accept this fact the better your life will become. There is no possible way on God’s green earth to make everyone love you. Take our president for instance… no matter how many awesome things he does for people, half of the country will still hate him. When networking, do the best you can to always interface with the people who think and act like you.

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