Svaha: the time between seeing lightning and hearing the thunder
Several of your recommendations stuck with me and they have been very useful.
- Think that the people you are going to meet at the event are all your friends. That has helped me open up more.
- Don’t think you have to “work the room,” or meet many people. Be with the person you are talking to at the time. The thought has helped control some urges for meeting more people and leaving the one I am talking to, and allowed for more in-depth conversations.
- Stay a bit afterwards, and talk with the people you found interesting. Leave a “hook” to make sure you stay in contact after the event.
I went to a talk yesterday; I enjoyed it and made at least one wonderful and potentially useful contact.
Your webinar was well worth all the time spent and the small fee, many times over.
- Benjamin Sagalovsky, Lean Six Sigma consultant & trainer at Variance Reduction Int'l, San Diego
I went to a two-day seminar this week. The topics were very work-related and, as usual, I went hoping to learn things I could use. Normally, I would have made a very big effort to talk to as many people as possible and unload business cards right and left. After your class I decided that this was not a good networking opportunity and decided to just relax and pay attention to the technical program.
So, of course, five people ASKED for my card and one person asked for my resume. I am fairly sure that I will get work. AND, I had a good time talking to people and finding out how the technical program applied to them and how they intended to use the information.
- Nancy Pasquan, Software Process Consultant, Eyes On, Inc.
You’ve been told that networking is important, maybe even crucial, for your success.
And you know that the way you feel about it is making you miserable. Which makes it very hard to find people you want to connect with — and even harder for them to find you.
You want to network. You want to make great connections, grow your career or business, and enjoy yourself (instead of feeling self-conscious and awkward).
And you’ve tried.
You’ve read books, you’ve taken classes. People who swear they once hated networking even more than you do have told you all the rules that are supposed to make it work. And you’ve tried.
But it hasn’t gotten any easier. In fact, sometimes you think it’s getting harder.
You’re finding more reasons to dread it — and more reasons to feel like a failure. Just thinking about getting yourself out the door to an event makes you feel nervous, frustrated, and exhausted. Your stomach sinks and your shoulders rise.
Is it possible to stop dreading networking? Can you find a way to at least tolerate it? Could you even become one of those people who make great connections and have FUN at networking events?
Rules don’t work. They can’t work, because following rules just means trying to force yourself to do something you really don’t want to do.
Here’s some of what you can expect:
I’m the one who summarized networking with three words: “Dread, dread, and dread.” I’d been to countless groups: chamber, greeters, membership networking, you name it. I couldn’t understand how all these interesting people seemed as stiff and awkward as I felt.
Grace, in your own inimitable style, you’ve lifted the veil on my ineffective networking techniques. I went to an event just last week and actually fully enjoyed myself. I made real connections based on shared interests — instead of worrying about what I “should” do at a networking event.
This product isn’t priced high enough when you consider the value of the referrals and the increased business you’ll receive. I was a skeptic. Now I’m telling everyone I know — corporate and self-employed alike — that they have to have your book.
I don’t know how to recommend this strongly enough!
- Jennifer Hofmann, Inspired Home Office, Salem, Oregon
I love offering this workshop. I can put myself back just a few years ago and remember ... remember walking into an event with my neck and shoulders so tense that I could feel the headache growing. Remember driving away from events in tears about what a disaster I’d made of it. Remember wondering what it took to actually make networking work. Remember telling my friends that I just wasn’t going to network any more, it wasn’t worth the pain and struggle.
I wish there had been someone there for me, to teach me what I want to teach you. The classes I attended all told me the same old stuff — the same rules that I’m going to suggest that you break. For a long time, I believed I was doing something wrong, but it’s really that the rules were wrong for me, just as they’re wrong for most people.
I’m not going to tell you that it won’t take some work. I’m certainly not going to tell you that this is some sort of magic that will transform you into a completely confident, assertive, networking superstar.
I am going to tell you that breaking the rules is transformative, whether you’re talking about networking or anything else in life. The ideas, questions, and perspectives I’ll show you in this class can take you well beyond networking, if you’ll let them.
Grace’s workshops provide a perfect balance of instruction and fun. In addition to providing interesting information, she engages workshop participants in creative activities that encourage them to stretch their imaginations while actively learning important lessons about the workshop topic. You leave her workshop with lots of food for thought, as well as with practical suggestions that you can effectively put to use in your own life.
- Kathleen French, PhD, Department of Neurobiology, UCSD
Tuesday January 12 at 4:00 p.m. Pacific time, 5:00 p.m. Mountain time, 6:00 p.m. Central time, 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
$57.00 — includes two weeks’ post-class support on a private board on AltDotLife.
The home-study package is an in-depth workbook-and-audio package that covers the material in detail.
The workbook is over 93 pages of material — more than we can cover in the class, and more than is included in the class handout.
The audio portion includes edited recordings of previous classes, including a Q&A session with real participants asking real-world questions.
You also get an interview with my networking guru and colleague Sherry Essig, a successful consultant and coach who has been running her business for over 15 years. She credits her success in large part to her excellent networking skills.
Read all the details on the Networking Homestudy page. (It opens in a separate window.) But don’t buy there! As an AltDotLife member, you get a discount.
The home-study package is normally $87.00.
$75.00 is the “altie” price.
Buy both together, and it’s discounted. But you knew that.
$99.00 for both the workshop and home-study.
$57.00 for the workshop alone.
$75.00 is the special “altie” home-study package price.
$99.00 for both workshop and home-study package.
When you register for the workshop (on its own or with the home-study), you’ll receive a confirmation email with a dial-in number and passcode.
When you purchase the home-study package (on its own or with the workshop), you’ll receive an email with the link and security information to download the workbook and audio.
If your question isn’t here, then contact me to ask any question you have.
Is there a guarantee?
Of course!
If you attend the class and participate in the on-line discussion, and you don’t feel as if you’ve made progress in your feelings about and success at networking, I’ll gladly refund 100% of your class fees.
I’ll also ask that you spend 15 or 20 minutes on the phone with me, on my dime and at your convenience, one-on-one, talking about what happened and why it didn’t work for you. That’s so I can learn for next time — and so I can provide a little more help to make it work better for you. I promise it won’t be any kind of argument about refunding your money — if you ask, you’ll get it back; that’s my absolute commitment to you.
The home-study package is also completely, 100% guaranteed — all you need to do is tell me why it didn’t work for you, and you get your money back.
I hate networking and I’ve kind of given up. Will this really
work?
Yes. If you really listen, really apply the ideas and paradigm shifts I talk about, really
deeply question the rules, and really deeply listen to what’s true for you, yes.
It’s not a magic bullet. It’s not a new rule that you can use instead of the old ones. This isn’t about “do A and get B result.” This is about listening and hearing what’s true for you in the context of networking. And that does work. I’m living proof of it! (Besides, there’s a guarantee.)
Tell me more about the home-study program.
You can read all about it at the Networking Homestudy page.
But don’t order it from there! If you want the homestudy package and the class, you get
a big discount.
Can I order the home-study version after the class and still get the
discount?
Yes, anytime up to six months after the class.