The other day Hank & I took a walk with a friend of mine who has had a successful business for years and has decided to start working on a nonprofit idea, so we spent a lot of the walk talking about that idea. We also talked about my first year, my clients and general catch up stuff. At the end of the walk when we got back to our cars, she asked “So what can I help you with, what do you need?” And I thanked her and told her. Then I asked her the same thing and she told me.

Do you do this when you’re networking? Do you ask and the other person doesn’t ask in return? Take that as a sign.

Networking is about a lot of things to a lot of people. For me, it’s about helping each other grow and build our business, not by hiring each other, but through who we know and how we can help and support one another. Next time you’re meeting with someone one on one make sure to ask them how you can help their business grow. You never know how that will come back to reward you in the future.