Opportunity Networking - part deux

by Byron Woodson II

Last week, I wrote a blog post last week about a new phrase I've fallen in love with. The phrase is "opportunity network" which I found thanks to Steve Woodruff who talks about it in two posts (here and here).

I like the phrase because it encompasses the overlap between professional networking, social networking, business networking, cause networking and all the cracks and crevices in them. I'm of the opinion that 'networking' (though mis-identified and mis-used) is not one or two of these things, it's all of them. Whether you network for career change, career advancement, finding better parties, meeting more people, better dates, or whatever your purpose, opportunity networking may just be a good thing for you and all of your interests.

The aim of oppourtnity networking, as I'm now defining it, is not simply to create opportunities for yourself, but more specifically to link the people you know to the opportunities you know about.

Philosophy tangent: Possibilities exist. Opportunities exist when possibilities (which are timeless) meet time and space. Now, opportunity networking happens when you add your people to those possibilities. This is a sliver of a difference from taking advantage of an opportunity because you won't be doing this yourself, you'll be plugging in someone you know into this opportunity.

Now, opportunity networking leans toward being agressive. It's not something that just falls into your lap, it's the thing that you put into other people's lap. To become an opportunity networker, you have to look for two things: opportunities and people.

Finding the opportunities:
To accomplish this, when you meet people or meet up with people you already know, you have to interview them about what opportunities they know about. This, aside from diligently researching online, is the only way to find out about opportunities all around your network.

Finding the people to plug in:
The other half of opportunity networking is to increase the variety, number and caliber of people you interact with. I heard a quip recently "if you hang out with nine broke friends, you're bound to be the tenth." So, what you want to do is to broaden the kinds of people you know. This can be demographically such as age, sex, race, geography (get out of town). It can also be, and more importantly for opportunity networking, occupation, hobbies and community service. Knowing a broader range of people enables you to plug a lot more holes with a lot more people. Doing this will turn you into the operator of the 40's and 50's constantly plugging people into the different opportunities you know about.

But WIIFM?

What's in it for you? Of course giving other people key information about opportunities will do two things. First, more people will tell you about opportunities, and this means that you'll have more access to better opportunities to plug people into. Second, more people will come to you for help. Even Ben Franklin advocates owing people favors, and vice versa, the connectivity of a favor connects.

What's really in it for you is the opportunity to get dibs and pounce on the opportunities that your network is bringing you. It's also a good way to build your very own 'good ol boy' network.

Can you tell I'm excited about this?

But the thing I really love about 'opportunity networking' is that it enables you to overlap your social, business, professional and organizational networking. Just because you have a social life, doesn't mean you can't get them rich. And just becasue you are in a business, doesn't mean you can't make your associates popular. Besides, networking your people with opportunities makes you an automatic energizer and a keystone in your networks for sure.