Branch Out, Explore Your Networking Potential

Hello everyone, and welcome to my very first blog! I look forward to mostly sharing my thoughts, opinions and knowledge on the home improvement industry. But, I promise to be as funny and engaging as I look! Yes, we'll definitely have some fun within these paragraphs every week!

 I'll also share some thoughts on local business affairs and career development as it relates to my work with the . As a life long Lemont resident, I just hope to provide interesting information that is relatable to all our residents.

Go Bulls! Okay, I had to get that sports twitch out of my system for the day, hahaha! But, I digress...

As I stared out the windows of the  showroom this morning, enjoying my coffee and the first warm sun in quite some time, I was taken away from my morning tranquility with an interesting phone call. A longtime friend and business associate was calling to see if I wanted to join his Leads group. If anyone is familiar with a Leads group, you know it can be a very interesting and agressive way of networking. I've wanted to be a part of this friend's group for a while, but they try not to have multiple people from the same industry, so I had to wait for the other "Remodeling" member to drop out.

While I look forward to bringing my knowledge, experiences, and rolodex to my first meeting with this Leads group, I have no doubt I'll probably be the youngest person within the group, as I often am at networking events. But, as a young professional, I encourage other YP's to explore as many networking opportunities as possible in your young career. Some will work out, and some won't. And while I've been a member of the Lemont Chamber Board for five years, at 27, I feel I'm just now starting to break out of my comfort zone and attend more and more meetings that are not only productive, but fun and interesting. I always thought I was doing enough, but as I'm quickly learning in other towns and through professionals in other industries, I haven't even scratched the networking surface.

What experiences and groups have helped you grow the most as a person and as a professional? I don't subscribe to the theory that all networking is good networking, so how do you know what will work the best?

'Til next week...