The Power of Networking

I recently took a trip to Washington D.C. There were a lot of firsts for me but I was excited to do some things I had never done before.

I have never flown completely alone before. I had never been to a city were I didn't have someone with me. A lot of other boring details of things I had never done before got accomplished on this day but that isn't the message of my blog.

I was extremely nervous to do the unknown alone. However, I quickly learned this world is a lot smaller than we think.

I met a lady on the plane who was from DC originally and was working in Atlanta with a nonprofit organization. We talked for about half the plane ride and when we landed she handed me her business card and said keep in touch. Look me up on LinkedIn.

While in DC my only form of transportation was the metro. So I had to tackle this public transportation by myself. So naturally I was extremely focused on signs and time and making sure I got on the right color line. I had to look like a tourist until a lady came up to me and asked ME for directions. She said I looked like I knew exactly what I was doing and commended me for taking such a risk to do this on my own at a such a young age.

Later that day I had a three hour wait for my flight back to Atlanta. I was trying to study (and not doing so well) when a gentlemen sat next to me at the bar. He began to ask me about my day and my life story. So I figured I'm not going to get any studying done, I'll humor him. Come to find out, he was in DC because he won an award for designing a program for the National Weather Service.

After talking with him for almost an hour I just wanted to sleep on the plane because I knew my long drive back to Auburn that night would be long and exhausting. I happened to sit next to a lady who just wanted to chat. Okay. Why not? I've met some interesting people today, let's have a chat. This lady lives in AR where Brenden will be moving. She began to tell me everything he needed to know about Fayetteville. Then the conversation never ran dry for the entire 2 hour flight. We had a lot in common and didn't want to stop talking because she was so interesting.

I learned that day that we are all connected in some way. People want to help others (most of the time.) why should we sit by ourselves and pretend like we don't need anyone or anything? Meeting and talking with those people that day helped solidify what I've always believed: networking is a powerful tool. There are too many people in the world to just stick to our tiny box of people. The only way to grow is to learn and there is only so much you can learn from a tiny box.

So venture out and meet new people. Try new things and don't be afraid to be honest and open with people you don't know. They may know someone who knows someone that can help you out in the near or far future.