Mark Edward Brown's Blog

I did a search recently on Google and Yahoo for the terms “how to network” and “how to connect” and do you know what I found?

Not much – oh sure, there were allot of search results and in reference to “networking” a majority of the content was related to business and creating clients and contacts but nothing really serious in the top search terms about creating quality connections or relationships let alone networking to create a formidable social framework or a subsstantial amount of friends that you can truly call your own.

Next, when I did a search for “how to connect” most of what I found was about how to connect things to your computer (argh).

I am sure you have not been living under a rock somewhere out in the woods so obviously you could go to Facebook or Myspace to make some friends and you might be suprised to fing that a few or many of your friends and family are already members of social networking sites like that – however, I want to talk to the person who has not even done that yet.

I want to give you three easy to apply, action steps that you can think about and then apply to your life that will allow you to connect, network and make more friends:

1) Take it one step at a time:

if you have a hard time even thinking about social situations then it’s best to start small and take it one step at a time but the most important thing is to get started.  Start online if you are not comfortable with speaking or approaching someone in public.  Begin by talking to someone you know and then approach someone you don’t know.  Keep in mind that you don’t have to make 50 friends, contact, connections or build a huge network right from the begining, take your time and develop quality relationships.

2) What do you have in common:

If you don’t live close to loved ones, and you want to make new friends and connect with new people, start by finding out about interests that you have in common with other people.  Most people start by talking about the weather, you hear it all the time in stores and at gas stations, if you dont want to do that then start with other things that you might have in common such as music you like, food, hobbies, movies you’ve seen etc. Once you find that you have something in common you have made a connection and you can build from there.  Remember, just because you start a conversation you do not have to commit to building a relationship if you are not comfortable with the connection you made.  You wont know however, if you don’t start.

3) Practice, and build your network.

Many times when people are shy or socially uncomfortable the best way to become more comfortable is to keep doing it, continue to practic, and with time and technique you will get better at it. The more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll get and the more friends, connections and relationships you will have.  Before long you will have a network of new friends and acquaintancences.

Leave me a comment and tell me how you form new relationships and make a new friend or contact today by adding me in FaceBook, just search for Mark Edward Brown and add me as your friend also you can add me to your MySpace by going here: http://www.myspace.com/markedwardbrown

Here’s to Great Friends,

Mark Edward Brown