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NETWORKING YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS
by Lain Chroust Ehmann

You don't have to spend hours making cold calls or squander money on invisible advertisements in order to find new clients. In fact, savvy businesspeople - writers included - know the best way to expand your client base is by leveraging the resources you already have.

You might ask, "What resources?" Well, pull out your personal address book. This database of contacts - friends, relatives and co-workers - is a gold mine when prospecting for business. By knowing how and who to ask, you can soon have as much business as you can handle!

Take the case of freelance writer Jerri Ledford (ed. note: LOOK, its our very own Listmom!) of Nashville, TN. Ledford answered an announcement for a freelancer forwarded from a friend. "I sent an e-mail describing my experience and landed some steady work with that editor. He pays me $200-$250 for each short article I write," Ledford says.

A few weeks after this initial contact, Ledford got a phone call. The editor had recommended her to an
acquaintance, another writer looking for help. "I was paid $400 for the two short articles I did," Ledford explains.

By networking, Ledford parlayed her original investment - an e-mail that took five minutes to compose - into $1000 in projects, in a few months' time. The best part? You can do it, too, by following a few rules to networking success.

Rule #1: Figure Out What You Want. It may seem obvious, but it's essential to decide exactly what it is you want for your writing career. You have to know what you want before you can get it, so be concrete: More clients? Expansion into a different field? Clips from bigger publications? Summarize your goal in a five-second "hook" to use in networking.

Rule #2: Expand Your Perspective. As you leaf through your address book, you may think you don't know anyone who can help you. Nothing could be further than the truth. A good network includes not just professional contacts, but personal acquaintances as well. Some of my most lucrative assignments have come from a friend or family member, not from a "real" contact. I received a $3000 marketing project from a high school pal, and a contributing editorship with a trade publication as a result of a referral from my best friend.

Rule #3: Ask, Ask, Ask! Every time you have a conversation of any length with someone in your network, throw in your hook. When you receive a referral, note their name and follow up. Introduce yourself, tell who referred you, and provide a brief background about your experience. Then give them your hook, ending with the same question: Do they know anyone who might be able to help?

Rule #4: Do Your Best Work - Always. Your best source of business can be your current client base, as it was for Jerri Ledford. By doing your best work, you set yourself up for more business from your current clients as well as referrals to new contacts.

Rule #5: Maintain your Network. The people with the strongest networks are those who offer help before they ask others for it. "I try to be sensitive to what other people need to do their best work -- and I offer it if I come across it, no strings attached," says corporate communications consultant Doretta Thompson (ed. note, another familiar face!) of Toronto. Thompson recently billed over $140,000 (Canadian) for a project referred from a friend - someone Thompson herself had helped out a few years back.

In sum, the real key to networking is to keep in touch with people consistently, not just when you need something. And most importantly, give at least as much as you get. Successful networks must have threads running in both directions to be of any support.

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