I know that you’ve heard it before: networking is so important! Whether you are a business owner looking for clients, developing a strategy for marketing art, or an employee looking for your next big promotion, putting yourself out there and meeting new people is key in helping you find new opportunities that excite you. It is crucial to network and to learn how to network effectively.

That is why I brought the queen of networking herself, Jennifer Robinson of Purposeful Networking, on this week’s episode of the Stress-Less Career Show to share valuable ways you can improve your networking skills and make the most of your networking efforts.

Tip 1

Networking is tough for a lot of us. It can be overwhelming to walk into an event with new people and know exactly how to strike up a conversation with person after person. Knowing this, the first networking tip that Jennifer has is simple: don’t set yourself up for failure. Look at the networking event details. Choose the events to go to based on what kind of networking environment you will be the most comfortable.

“If you’re somebody that likes small groups, don’t start out with going to 100 or 200 person event where you’re going to be extremely uncomfortable. If you’re not a morning person. Don’t schedule your networking event for breakfast.”

The goal at a networking event is to be the best version of yourself. Put yourself in an environment that will allow you to show that version of you off.

Tip 2

In addition to setting yourself up for success, Jennifer’s next tip is one that I stress to my clients. It is one that has helped her in her own business as well. Before you walk into an event, you need to know what your networking goals are. Jennifer started her business after a career and background in litigation. As she grew her business, networking was crucial in her success. It took time for her to learn how to network effectively. Initially, she would go to any event just to try and get the word out about her new business. However, she realized that this was not serving her or her business.

“Everybody will say your best commodity is time… You really have to think about: Why am I going to this event? Why does this organization make sense? What are my goals? Who am I trying to meet? Who’s going to be in the room? Those are options that you really need to think about before you commit the time and the money to go to an event.”

This tip can save you from not only wasting your resources on events or networking organizations that do not lead to meeting the people you need to meet but also can keep you from constantly draining your energy.

“When I started, I would say for the first year or two I just found myself exhausted all the time. And it’s funny because now people always say, ‘Is there two of you? You’re everywhere and you’re at five things a day,’ but I’m actually at a lot less [networking events] than I used to be and I’m a lot more targeted about it than I used to be.”

Tip 3

Jennifer’s final tip is especially important for female networkers. Try to make sure you go to co-ed and industry-specific events to network as well as gender-specific events.

“As women, we tend to network with our own… it’s awesome to network with your own sex. You have common bonds and support each other. Depending on your business, it’s also really important to network not only in a co-ed atmosphere but also in industry-specific atmospheres.”

Diversify strategically the types of events you go to. Ensure that you meet even more new people at each event. Networking is more than just something you need to check off your to-do list. It is a key tool in helping you connect with people and cultivate a career that you love. You should approach networking in a strategic and positive mindset.

“If you can’t show up as your best self, just stay home… If you’re not in a good space, it’s the worst time you could try to make a first impression on somebody whether it’s for a personal or business contact.”

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Carlee Myers is the Founder of the Stress Less Company. She is an expert at helping people use art and creativity in order to find their passion again. As a firm believer in creativity, Carlee helps people find their purpose in life through a combination of coaching, creative expression, and experiential activities.

I talk to countless people about their professional lives and I cannot tell you how many times I have heard someone tell me, “Oh, I just kind of fell into this job.” Those same people who tell me this, often, follow it up later by mentioning just how stressed out they are all the time. Does this sound familiar as it relates to your job, hobby, or marketing art?

Starting Out

We all know the story. We fall into one job right after college, get some experience in that role, and realize we don’t really like that job. So, we use that experience to find another job in that field at another organization in hopes that it will be different this time, but we end up unhappy there too. This cycle continues until suddenly five, ten, or twenty years have gone by and we are well into a career we didn’t even want to begin with!

We spend one third of our lives at work! If you are spending one-third of your life doing something you just fell into and don’t even want to do, it is no wonder you are stressed out all the time. Worse, chances are that you are bringing that stress home with you to your family and friends. All of this stress because we fell into this job. That is why setting intentions in your life and career is important.

Setting Intentions

When I ask people what their intentions are in their careers, many people have one: I need to earn more money. While more money can be an intention, the bottom line is that money cannot buy peace of mind. A study was done recently that says that after you reach about $75000 a year in salary, an increase in your annual salary doesn’t make a significant difference in your happiness (look it up!).

Yes, money can buy you a massage and food on the table. That is great. However, that partner of your dreams, that sense of joy and happiness for life? Money is never going to buy you the things that fuel your soul. You have to go beyond just the money intention.

Create A Plan

Setting intentions is incredibly important, especially at the beginning of the year. Take it one step at a time. Start out by waking up in the morning and setting your daily or weekly intention. Monthly, quarterly, annual – take a look at what you want to get from this life and set your life’s intention.

I invite you to try a different approach and focus on your career intentions. Money may be a part of your intentions. Go beyond that. Consider how you want your career to make you feel. What do you want to have? Who do you want to work with? What is the real intention that will drive your decisions?

When you create that intention, it creates a guiding beacon of light on your path. Use that intention. Ask yourself if that new job offer or relationship is going to lead you to the intention you have set in your life or career. If the answer is yes, go for it and give it everything you’ve got! If the answer is no, abandon ship! Not doing so is how we “fell into” jobs before.

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Carlee Myers is the Founder of the Stress Less Company. She is an expert at helping people use art and creativity in order to find their passion again. As a firm believer in creativity, Carlee helps people find their purpose in life through a combination of coaching, creative expression, and experiential activities.

Lately, I have had a lot of conversations with people that are in transition. These are people who are either looking to transition from their current full time role into a new job, creating a new business, or marketing art. They are people who have been laid off by huge companies and trying to reinvent themselves in their career. Maybe you can relate.

Employer Expectations

What’s interesting about the people I have met is that many of them are working in their current position beyond the traditional 9 to 5 schedule. Nowadays, it is the expectation among employers that we will be there on our nights and weekends, ready and on call for any little problem that arises. The people I have met who have recently been laid off are working around the clock trying to find a new way to make ends meet.

Every day, we fall into the cycle of overworking ourselves in positions or situations that we never wanted to begin with. How do we find the time to get out of the job we accepted just because we needed to escape the financial hole we were in? How do we break the pattern of working all the time so that we can build the career we want for ourselves?

Why You Need To Take Time For Yourself

The obvious answer I hear a lot is time management; however, I think there is more to the story. I think a lot of people know how to manage their time. If all you needed to do was create more time in your day, you could. What stops so many of us from creating the time we need to create the career we want is the underlying fear that we are being selfish. We can be so afraid that spending that time on ourselves is selfish when we have families and day jobs that need our attention. How do you make that time commitment to transitioning to a more fulfilling career without feeling frivolous or selfish?

One of the main things that I recommend is to think about the value you bring to the table. Think about the importance of this career transition in your life. If you do not make this career change, what will happen and how will you feel? If you make this change, how will you feel then? What does this career change mean to you?

I met a woman recently who was so in love with the work she does that she wants to work in her position at her organization for the rest of her life. Her career is focused on a spiritually driven purpose that she discovered within herself. Imagine how devastated she would feel had she not taken the time for herself to find it. It is important not only to think about the value you can give to society when your work truly aligns with your purpose, but also to think about the consequences of not moving forward. When you are in touch with your value and the potential you have, you reinvigorate a sense of motivation.

You Have Value

Remembering your value helps you realize why you are worthy of taking ten minutes a day for your goals. Create some time for your job search or your business each day. The value you will see in yourself will grow. The more value you place on yourself, the more you will feel worthy of using that extra time for your future. That way, if anyone tries to call you out on taking a little time for yourself, you can confidently look the in the eye and say, “It’s only a few minutes. I am doing the world a favor by pursuing my calling and helping others with my heart-centered action.” The talents you have to share with the world are valuable to everyone, use them wisely.

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Carlee Myers is the Founder of the Stress Less Company. She is an expert at helping people use art and creativity in order to find their passion again. As a firm believer in creativity, Carlee helps people find their purpose in life through a combination of coaching, creative expression, and experiential activities.

I often see people put an overwhelming amount of pressure on themselves, struggling to answer one question: What is my one true calling? I talk with people who feel lost in the confusion around finding that perfect job, business idea, or strategy for marketing art that is going to finally make them happy and excited each day.

It’s All Relative

We all have had that internal conversation with ourselves growing up about whether we should be an accountant or a fireman or any other job. Yet, as I was talking to my partner about a client, we got on the subject of soulmates. That’s when it hit me. So many of us have this “finding your calling” thing all wrong. Finding your one true calling, just like finding your one true soulmate, is not how real life works.

We seem to have these beliefs that there’s this one true position or job out there for us to find in order to feel satisfied. There’s one true person for us to fall in love with. We all have that urge inside of us to seek out the fairy tale ending where you find “the one.”  The story ends happily ever after. However, I am a firm believer that we don’t just have one soulmate forever or one perfect job forever. I believe that you will find that you have a different soulmate or soul-career for different parts of your life.

In the span of your love life, you may have had your high school sweetheart and whirlwind college romance. In your professional life, you might have had your high school babysitting job, first college internship, and the entry-level position right after graduating. All of the different jobs you had helped you learn more about yourself, why you are on this planet, and about your past relationships. I am not a relationship expert, so I won’t give out any advice on your love life. However, when it comes to your professional life, your task is not to find your one true calling. Your only task is to find your calling for who you are at this moment. To do that, look for your purpose.

Find Your Purpose, Not Your Calling

Your purpose and your calling often get used interchangeably, but I believe there is an important distinction. A calling is a job, a purpose is the reason you are on this earth. Your calling will change because it is a specific position, but your purpose is vague and will likely remain the same.

For instance, my purpose is helping others. It led me to my current calling, starting the Stress Less Company and helping hundreds of people find work that makes them happy. Your purpose may be using math to solve the world’s problems. This could lead to a calling of being a NASA scientist or a financial analyst. The possibilities that exist within your purpose are endless.

Your Challenge

I challenge you to take the pressure of finding one true calling off of your shoulders. Instead, think about your purpose. Think about what traits and skills you uniquely have that can contribute something to the world. Think about why you are on this earth. Approach your career with your purpose in mind. All of the opportunities you have will lay themselves out in front of you for you to choose.

Your choice is not predestined for you. You have free will to choose one calling today and another calling two years from now. We each have a path ahead of us that is made up of different callings and that is okay. It is okay if we shift to calling after calling, it’s okay if we stay in one calling for years. What isn’t okay is settling for a calling that goes against your purpose. That’s why you’re here on this earth, after all.

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Carlee Myers is the Founder of the Stress Less Company. She is an expert at helping people use art and creativity in order to find their passion again. As a firm believer in creativity, Carlee helps people find their purpose in life through a combination of coaching, creative expression, and experiential activities.

Why is getting to the root of procrastination so challenging? Why don’t we do those important things that need to get done? You know you have to do something but somehow it still doesn’t get done – like developing a strategy for marketing art. There are many reasons why we don’t do what really needs to get done. One of the key reasons that prevents us from taking action is that we don’t really know our ‘why.’

Why “Why?”

Why is this task so important to us? Mel Robbins, a prominent coach in the personal development world, has established that the reason that we don’t do things is because we don’t really know why we’re doing them to begin with. We might know of many ‘why’s’ handed down to us by parents, bosses, and society (such as money, status, and the fancy car), but we don’t know our own truest ‘why’.

Another key factor that influences getting to the root of procrastination is what creates our why – our core desired feeling. What is the core desired feeling that you want to feel on a daily basis? How does this core desired feeling affect your why? I spoke to a client this morning whose core desired feeling is ‘transcendental.’ In this instance, her why was about working on herself so that she can transcend and make a bigger difference to society through her writing.

When writing every day, getting into the flow and finishing a novel wasn’t enough. She had to write in her personal journal in order to understand herself so that she had something to transcend from. Her core desired feeling helped her create her why, which was vital for her to move forward with her goals.

Struggling with procrastination?

Next time you’re avoiding something, write down your main intention for the day. What do you want to accomplish or work on? Then write down three reasons why this task or project is important to you. You’ll move forward on this project or task because you’re connected to the ‘why.’

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Carlee Myers is the Founder of the Stress Less Company. She is an expert at helping people use art and creativity in order to find their passion again. As a firm believer in creativity, Carlee helps people find their purpose in life through a combination of coaching, creative expression, and experiential activities.

The number 1 activity to get to the next phase of your career is networking. This ultimately boils down to connections and relationships. I am sure you’ve heard people say, ‘It’s all in who you know.’ Whether you want to get into an exclusive event or party, get that next job, or get that discount at a store, it’s all in who you know. This is why networking is important for  joint venture partners, clients, and marketing art.

About Networking

Networking is usually an activity of going to an event, repeatedly giving your elevator pitch, and giving out your business cards. There is more to networking than just this! It is really about creating deep and meaningful connections with people we wouldn’t have necessarily met in an everyday context. The point of networking is to get us to that next phase of our career, which might be a promotion or to further build our business.

Networking is this vital tool that we often use incorrectly. A lot of the time, I’ve noticed that people go to events hoping to share what they do and see what they can get from as many people as possible. Unfortunately, this is not how deep and meaningful connections work. Establishing deep and meaningful connections will likely get you recommendations. Whereas with brief encounters, you’ll be lucky if anyone will remember or recommend you. Nobody likes receiving a sales pitch out of context. It reeks of a desperation mind set.

Recommendations

To get you into the next phase of your career, practice active listening. When you get to a networking event, enable the next person to have a platform to share more about themselves. Everyone is eager to speak about what they offer. You will stand out if you offer yourself as an active listener in networking spaces. Gather key information that will tell you if there is some synergy between the other person and yourself. Do they have a connection somewhere you’ve applied? Are they desperately in need of your services? Remember, you can guide the conversation based on the questions you ask!

To the next phase of your career:

1. Get into different spaces with different people.
2. Listen actively. You can do this by asking questions and seeing how you can help someone else. At the end of the day, the people you genuinely connect with will be more than willing to help you make the next move in your career.

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Carlee Myers is the Founder of the Stress Less Company. She is an expert at helping people use art and creativity in order to find their passion again. As a firm believer in creativity, Carlee helps people find their purpose in life through a combination of coaching, creative expression, and experiential activities.