Where Should I Start Networking?

When you have decided that you would like to begin building relationships and start networking, the question of ‘how’ and ‘where’ will immediately come up. There’s hundreds if not thousands of routes/strategies that you can take when you first begin reaching out to develop new relationships -- a good way to simplify your options is to list out the communities that you currently are or have been a part. Some examples I’ve personally started at are:

• School Alumni - could be from high school all the way to grad school. Alumni have been where you are in terms of climbing higher professionally, and because of that common bond of being a Blue Devil or Bruin or whatever funny mascot represents their school, they are much more willing to help you raise you up.

• Former Companies - if you’re a working professional, it could benefit you to reach out to folks who have walked in your shoes; regardless of how similar your experiences or sentiment towards your former employer is, there will be a commonality.

• Some more examples: LinkedIn Groups, your church/religious communities, Discord, Twitch groups or even Reddit (I’d vet these folks before meeting them in person or trading personal information…), Family (if you have a distant cousin who started a successful startup and sold it for $$$ - I’d probably consider that a pretty good prospect for potentially advancing your career!)

These are simply examples of my own communities (except for the rich cousin…I don’t have any of those). Make a list and then start reaching out to folks in those communities!