It Pays to Network - And Not To Be Too Parochial When You Do It

A couple of weeks ago I got an invitation to join Referral Key from a woman called Michelle Gatewood.

Michelle used to work in the credit industry in Europe, and I originally 'met' her, so to speak, through LinkedIn, but a little while ago Michelle relocated back to the United States, took a job with ACE Adjustment Service, Inc. in West Virginia, joined Referral Key, and immediately began to ask other people to join that network as well.

When I first saw the invitation I was a little bit doubtful as to whether Referral Key - an wholly American networking system - was going to be of very much use to me -and frankly, filling in yet another networking profile wasn't a very appealing prospect. But in the end I joined, filled in the profile, and invited everybody I knew - and I'm glad I did, because I immediately got a job out of it.

It is a laborious job to join networks, fill in profiles, and keep them up to date, but the fact is that those network profiles are really free advertisements for you and your company. They link to your website and your blog. They put you in touch with other people, and other people in touch with you.

It really doesn't matter whether the business network is or is not based in your home country, because it's going to do the same good job of pushing your name about - for free! - wherever it happens to be.

Referral Key is not - at the moment - as sophisticated as LinkedIn, but it's growing very fast, and it will improve as time goes on. And America is a huge market.

You should network - and you shouldn't be too parochial about where you do it. It's a small world that's getting much smaller, and clients and customers can come from anywhere at all.