From Business Cards to Business Relationships: Personal Branding and Profitable Networking Made Easy, 2nd Edition

You can download a focus board for free at www.BC2BR.com. Fill in the blanks on your focus board using the information from steps 1 to 4.

Step 6: Check Your Activities

From now on, when an invitation crosses your desk, simply refer to your focus board and ask yourself: Would attending this function get me any closer to my goals and aspirations? Would my attendance there put me in front of my target market or people who are connected to them? Is this event one I would enjoy? Does this event match my time and money resources?

Going through this checklist each time you consider participating in a networking activity will help you focus your time, manage your finances, and make good decisions.

Enjoyable activities that do not fit your focus board should be considered social activities, not business networking activities. Yes, there are always hidden opportunities at the ball park because you don't know who'll be attending, but we want to purposefully put you into winning situations.

An event that doesn't meet at least three of the criteria on your focus board shouldn't be considered as a proactive, business networking opportunity. To begin your strategic approach, write down all of your current business- networking activities. Put each one through the focus board test. Which ones fit? Which ones don't fit?

Staying in your comfort zone and keeping busy with activities that don't fit your focus board is not a good time investment from a business perspective. Building a social network ...