When You Promote Others, You Actually Promote Yourself!

Most people focus so much on themselves that they neglect the true meaning and philosophy of networking. Chances are they hardly receive any referrals and wonder why they aren't having any real success from all the networking they do. I hear it all the time that it takes too long to get any business or it costs too much or no one has any connections for them. The truth is they are totally naive and have no idea why this is happening to them.

In my experience, the people that spend time sending business to others are also the same people that promote one another. They go out of their way to tell people they know all about the other person. These free marketing agents turn out to be highly successful themselves and reap the rewards by receiving tons of referrals.

There are a variety of reasons why this happens especially if you believe the more you give, the more you receive. Just ask my friend Bob Burg, co-author of "The Go-Giver" who shares my own personal cardinal rule, "Always Give Without Expectation".

Another reason (that's not so obvious) is by promoting others, you are ultimately being seen and occassionally being asked about your business. It always feels better to put the spotlight on someone you would recommend or endorse.

I challenge you to give this a try and put it into action this week. Find 3 people you do business with currently and promote them to a few of your friends. Even if you currently don't do any business together but believe in them and want to see them successful, see what happens. You might just be pleasantly surprised!

Since I have such a HUGE network of incredible people, my goal is to share 10 personal friends I would like to recommend. Keep in mind, this is just a few of them (in no particular order) and I will continue to introduce you to more amazing people in the weekly publication of The Networking Focus.

• Lori Feldman, The Database Diva
• Tessa Greenspan, Xango
• Gina Keeven, Choices Catering & Brokerage
• Nancy Schneider, Ronan Signs
• Joe High, 4th Quarter Financial
• Sheridan Hermann, Salon Kashmir
• Karen Hoffman, The Idea Coach
• Katrina Sawa, JumpStart Your Biz Coach
• Bob Sommers, Recognized Expert
• Mike Tobin, BNI

If you would like to be connected to any of them, please let me know. I'm sure they would love to hear from you!

To Your Networking Success,

Darlene Willman