This post is a little late, but yesterday was a busy day with higher priorities. Last night, I was reminded of the importance of networking. You always have to keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities and you have to take advantage of them while you can.

A few weeks ago, I met the CIO of a local company. He and I have a small handful of mutual friends and we work in the same industry so we had a good conversation. Nice guy. I ran into him last night and had the opportunity to make a connection. My brother-in-law recently lost his job of many solid years in a downsizing event. I gave him a little bit of background and asked if he knew of anyone looking for someone with that skill set. As it turns out, his company has been considering bringing on someone to do exactly that!

I was able to utilize a relationship I had established to make a connection between two people. What do I get out of this? Credit, fame, and glory. If you make good connections between people in your network, people will begin to come to you when they need something. Sometimes it will be a contact. Sometimes it will be a contract. Be famous for being “the guy who knows someone/something” and it will pay off. It also feels good to help people out.

This has been a good reminder to me as I head to BarCamp this weekend.