#tena.cious

Yes, today is my 26th birthday.

I don’t like to make a big deal about my birthday. However, I do like to join in on the party for other people's! Just ask my college roommates. Many birthday mornings, they would wake up with our dining room turned into a 5 year olds birthday party with streamers, balloons + signs. I find doing big surprises and making other people feel special on their birthdays is much more important.

The same is true in networking. Connecting other people and helping grow their business is like being able to hand out party favors all year long.

Thanks to Facebook, it seems that everyone knows I am turning another year older today. As I keep getting notifications of people wishing me warm wishes (since it was -2 degrees this morning) I am overwhelmed with the amount of networking connections who are posting.

There is a line that some people don’t want to cross when it comes to their personal Facebook page & letting networking people in. Personally, I say the more people at the party, the merrier! But I am a strong believer that networking is all about relationships. It’s about letting people in and getting to know each other on a personal level. Sharing photos of my dogs, updates on house projects, or just random information on life with people who I know professionally is important.

People like to do business with people they like. They are not going to get to know me if all I do is sell, sell, sell or only give them my 30 second ‘elevator’ pitch repeatedly. Just the thought of that gives me a yucky feeling! But don’t get me wrong; I don’t expect everyone that I connect with to do business with me. It goes deeper than that.

Like I said, getting to know your connections on a personal level is important. Sure, I might never have those people over to my house or go out to dinner with them, but knowing who they are and what they are all about makes a difference. I LOVE connecting people and this offers a great way for me to do it. Understanding this and realizing it’s potential to connect people + help grow their business might just be the best birthday present yet.

So as I make my way closer to 30 than 20 (eek) I am excited to have those connections as apart of who I am and help me shape my personal and professional life.