Now You Have No Excuse: Summer Networking

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer. In Boulder, where I live, we've waited way too long for nice weather. Now that it is here, we have no excuse not to take advantage of it. Here is my suggestion: call three friends and make plans for summer networking dates in June. Do it now!

I work for myself, and even though I spend hours a day on the phone and online in conversation, there is nothing like a face-to-face conversation to get ideas and "communitrons" moving. "Communitron" is my word for a sub-atomic particle, the smallest unit of a friendship or networking conversation -- those little things that start zinging around the table or the room when you get together to share good ideas and goodwill with someone you don't see nearly often enough.

You will make a lunch appointment thinking "I should catch up with Dave" and you'll leave your Dave-lunch with fresh ideas, new enthusiam and a new perspective on something that's been vexing you. I'll be surprised if that doesn't happen for you. Now is the time to get those communitrons going!

I have been the coffee, lunch- and breakfast-networking queen since 1997 when I left my big-company job. A year ago, I started trading in some of those coffees and lunches for walks. Walks are the new coffee! My friend and I walk and talk and get our blood and our creative juices going. We walk about five miles, a good idea on all counts.

June, July and August will fly by. What are you waiting for? Grab a pen and paper. Jot down the names of a dozen friends you see less often than you'd like. Throw in a couple of local people you've completely lost touch with. Call them or send 'em email messages to say "Let's get together!" Go to an outdoor cafe, or walk around the lake. Or, invite two friends who don't know one another, to join you for that lunch or coffee or walk.

Chirp chirp! Hear those birds outside your window? They will fly south in a heartbeat. Get outside!