Networking Pro-Tip: An Everyday Networking Checklist
Easy ways to fit more networking into your day (without adding more meetings).
“What I do know about networking is this:
💡 It is an essential and continual activity.
💡 You control the effort - but not the outcome.
💡 Networking is everywhere.
Successful networking requires understanding the immense power of regular daily activities to connect with someone else.” - Build Your Dream Network @ pages 6-7
With those wise, timeless words extracted from Build Your Dream Network in mind, here's a checklist of easy, breezy but meaningful ways to keep your network up-to-date on what matters to you, and light-touch ways to connect, meaningfully. Hopefully this list (along the the reflective prompts at the end) will spark your own ideas on how to remain in-the-loop with your own network:
Digital Touchpoints
📲 Email signature (does it say what you do — and who you do it for?)
📲 LinkedIn headline + “about” section
📲 Personal bio (short + long)
📲 Out-of-office messages (yes, even those)
📲 Digital newsletter (yours or one you contribute to)
📲 Personal website
📲 Profiles in industry or community orgs
Routine Interactions (IRL or Virtual)
😃 Team or group meetings
😃 Alumni gatherings
😃 Volunteer events
😃 Fitness classes + running groups
😃 School or daycare run-ins
😃 Book clubs or group chats
😃 Religious or community gatherings
😃 Charitable events (as attendee or host)
Small Networking Moves
☕️ Sit somewhere new at the next team meeting
☕️ Follow up with one person from last month’s calendar commitments
☕️ Forward a newsletter or article (with a personal note) to a client or prospect
☕️ Send that thank-you note (you've been meaning to send for weeks!)
☕️ Revisit your LinkedIn messages, and reply to just one
☕️ Text a mentor (or mentee) with an update
Quick Reflection Prompts
🍿 What recent conversation energized you? What can you learn from that interaction?
🍿 Where are you routinely visible — but not fully engaged?
🍿 Who’s introduced you lately? Have you followed-up on that introduction?
🍿 Which “low-lift” opportunities from the list above, are you ignoring?
Need more?
🚀 Check out my conversation with best-selling author Kathryn Finney on the Build The Damn Thing podcast, where we pack how building the right relationships can be the ultimate power move for entrepreneurs, career changers, and women in business. From crowd-funding to personal branding to expanding your network, we cover it all.