Networking Tip: Create A Reason To Be In Front Of Your Contacts

I learned many years ago, since I started JibberJobber, that I want to help people help me.  In other words, I want to empower people to become evangelists for JibberJobber.

I also learned that even the most enthusiastic evangelists need to be reminded what they could or should evangelize.  Or, that we even exist.

I am sharing this with you because YOU, as CEO of Me, Inc, have the same issue.  You have friends, family, neighbors, professional contacts, etc. who want to talk about you, but (a) they have already said anything important that they know, or (b) they got caught up in their own life and needs that they, um, forgot about you.

I know you are special. You are indeed awesome.  But people forget about you.

This is the same thing that happens with me.

I started JibberJobber in May of 2006. I beat the “JibberJobber drum” enough that people who knew me had heard enough.  Or at least I thought they heard enough.  Sometimes we get tired of talking about ourselves, and assume (that is a bad word!) that others are sick and tired of hearing about us.

What I learned was that I needed to have a reason to be in front of my evangelists (and prospects, and future evangelists, etc.).  That was the main reason I wrote I’m on LinkedIn – Now What???  It is a main reason why I have updated it to the fourth edition.

Being in front of people is why I write blog posts, created new blogs like JasonAlba.com and wrote 51 Alternatives to a Real Job.

Being in front of people is why I decided to ‘eat my own dog food’ (I know some people don’t like that phrase… so suggest an alternative in the comments :p) and try multiple revenue streams, like painting numbers on curbs (I made $40/hour doing that).  Recently I decided to combine a part of my personal life, homeschooling and mentoring math with my passion for teaching, and started a class to help people become entrepreneurs by creating video games (see VideoGameClass.com).

This is all on top of directing my development team at JibberJobber, which is still and has always been my #1 priority.

I’m pretty busy.  I keep myself busy.  I need to be busy, and busy helps me pay the bills.

Busy also gives me a reason to get in front of people!  It gives me a reason to say “Hey!  Remember me?”

Can you imagine how hard it would have been over the last eight years if I didn’t have anything interesting to say to my contacts?  Horrible.  Boring.  I would have become irrelevant.  JibberJobber would have become irrelevant.

Sometimes I start new things, take on projects, or spend my time on things because I want to.  Sometimes I do it because it contributes to my bottom line (again, I have bills to pay!).

Most of the time I do it to have one more thing I can take back to my network and help them become evangelists.

What are YOU doing to be in front of your contacts with something interesting?  It doesn’t have to be epically interesting… it simply has to be something so you can go back and say “hey, did you know _________?”