Let me by start saying that I am terrible at networking. I feel weird in certain social settings, my palms get sweaty, my heart beats faster and I have a ridiculous joker smile pasted on my face so I can avoid crying and running away. Thank you for listening to my confession and not judging me.

What I have learned in having a team in Africa is that networking is key. In most African countries you can survive the hustle and grind by being in the right places, introducing yourself to people, putting yourself through awkward situations and not running away. For some reason I take networking and social gatherings as some sort of punishment. In fact, my team is always telling me that I have to put myself out there more. I need to introduce myself to people and get the consumers to know me. Without knowing me they won't be as interested in our business.I have been trying to ignore their advice forever. I realized that I have to really put myself out there - OY VEY!

Someone once told me that you should fake it to you make it. I never really understood that saying till years later. I have been really using that advice to the tenth degree. One of my new tactic is to I find someone standing by themselves or just one other person and introduce myself. The next question is usually what do you do for a living? When I tell them about my business they usually say something complimentary. I usually respond to by making a self deprecating comment. I’m working on not doing that anymore. An armor that I use to help me with my nervousness is my clothes and accessories. When I "power dress" I feel like I'm rocking a cape and can take on anything, anyone and any situation. Dressing how I would like to portray myself is really a confidence builder.

Doing business in countries that you don’t live in require you to build relationships, connections and trust quickly with people. In many previous blog, Travel Tips in Africa, I mentioned getting a driver. My previous drivers have all been a blessing and have put out a lot of fires for me in my absence.They have become an integral part of my team. I've been able to get travel documents for my artisans, doctor appointments and set up my nonprofit all by networking.

The whole world is dealing with Coronavirus and its effects. One of the many terrible effects of this virus will be people losing their jobs all over the world. Writing that sentence brings me to tears. It's important to have your resume ready to go but the most important thing you can do is to network. Once all this is over give yourself time to deal with all the emotions and start networking. While you are social distancing or in French we say Confinement, reach out to people, update your LinkedIn profile and reach out to people virtually. We will get through this together. Please be safe out there. Thank you to all the doctors, nurses, grocery clerks, transportation workers and all the essential people. Without you all we would be lost. The best way to thank them is to stay home.

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A bientôt,

Adolophine

The Importance of Networking