Networking is one of the most important skills you can ever learn. I guess the question is, "What is Networking?" Essentially networking is the skill of developing or building a relationship with people that you do not know. The art of networking is to develop your own network which is simply a group of people in which you can share your ideas, information, your resources plus you can introduce your network members with each other to help each of your network members towards a common goal.

In the book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill talks about building your network into your Mastermind Group which is simply a refined network that will help you in your path towards obscene wealth and success. There are many examples of people in the book Think and Grow Rich that built their own networks to help them achieve the success they are looking for.

In the chapter, Desire, Napoleon Hill talked about how Edwin C Barnes had the Desire to become a business partner of Thomas A Edison. He achieved his objective by building a network that helped him get to the point where he was an equal and become the partner of Thomas Edison.

Knowing where and how to start building your network is the toughest challenge. Below I have set out four basic steps as part of your Networking Plan.

Step 1. Define Your Desire

Napoleon Hill teaches us in Think and Grow Rich that you can only achieve what you truly Desire and this is also true of networking. What is your desire of building your network and the people in your network?

For example your Desire of your network might be to build a network of like minded businesses, for instance you might be a builder and your network you want to build might include painters, decorators, architects, Loan specialists etc. The Desire of your network maybe to bring 60% of your business from your network.

Essentially what you must do when starting to build your network is to identify what you Desire your network to be. Make sure that you write out your Desire at the top of the page so that you can easily visualize what your Desire is.

Step 2. Set Out Your Goals

Once you have a clear Desire, your next step is to define the goals of that desire. Earlier I gave you the example of a network that you might desire as a builder. The desire of the builders' network was to have painters, decorators, architects, loan specialists in the network. In the goals section of this four step process you must identify specific targets.

In Napoleon Hills chapter, Autosuggestion he states that for you to achieve your Desire it must be something that you can see as tangible. Simply having the desire to be Rich will never allow you to achieve anything, but having the desire to make $400,000 Cash is a tangible desire and goal you can achieve. The same is true of networking.

If you are building your network, you need to state in your goals specifically which painters, decorators and architects you want to be apart of your network. You should write those tangible goals down because these are the people you want to build your plan around to achieve your network.

Step 3. Develop Your Plan

The third step in your Networking Plan is to work out how you are going to network with these Target people. Your plan must involve a lot of research to identify where they spend their time and how you are going to meet them in a networking environment.

For example, your target architect maybe a member of Rotary so your plan that you are developing maybe to find a way through your current network to join the same Rotary Group that your target architect is a member of. In your plan you may identify that you will go to four meetings and introduce yourself four times before asking to have coffee with this person or to meet at some other function to get to know them more intimately.

Before you set those meetings into stone you need to do some research on their business but also the right questions to ask them. Remember the key to being a Master Networker is to make the target feel important and ask them about their business. It should not be your agenda to push your business down their throat. You will find that after a period they will naturally ask you about yours and when that situation arises it is your turn to introduce your business.

One of the other tasks that I recommend that you as part of this step is to practice the delivery of your questions. I also recommend that you commit your questions to memory before meeting with these Target people. The reason you should do this practice is to ensure that your delivery of the questions is natural rather than being staged. I strongly encourage you to ask a colleague to help you master these questions and to practice how you deliver them during a networking function.

Step 4. Implement Your Plan

Once you have developed your plan, the final phase is to implement your plan and to get out and start meeting the people you want to make apart of your network.

The bottom line is this, networking is a skill and like any skill it will take time to practice and that is why you must follow the four step process. Remember, elite swimmers do not win Olympic gold without a clear plan and a lot of practice and networking is no different. To finish off I want to simply outline the four steps in your networking plan.

Step 1. Define Your Desire

Step 2. Set Out Your Goals

Step 3. Develop Your Plan

Step 4. Implement Your Plan