I love my garden – the joy of creation, the pleasure of beautiful greenery and flowers – even the day to day discipline of maintenance. It’s a wonderful hobby for relaxation and reward. Admittedly as an apartment-dweller in Melbourne, my garden these days is limited to the few square metres of my balcony, but it’s amazing what you can achieve in a small space. And every time I go home to Brisvegas, I love working in the garden I created for my mum.
All of which got me to thinking that networking can be like gardening – you sow a seed, you water and maintain and you’re rewarded with the blooms of referrals and business growth. So in line with our 2024 theme of ‘Nourish to Flourish’ here’s seven tips based on what I’ve learned from gardening, which can be applied to grow a network that’s ‘blooming marvellous’.
1. Preparation
Success in gardening starts with preparation – getting the soil ready, turning it over, making sure it contains the right nutrients and has good drainage. In networking, the preparation also involves digging deep – with people. Arrange Get Fresh (discovery) meetings with your connections / Fresh members and ask searching questions. Do some research, check out their website. Learn as much as you can about them. Just like clay soil, some people are hard to dig into, so be prepared to put in a bit of effort. Plan your pitch, so that others can also find out more about you – ensure you have everything ready to attract and receive those referrals when the time comes.
2. Plant the Seeds
If you don’t plant seeds, you’ll just get weeds. If you want your garden to have the flowers, shrubs, fruit or vegetables you want, you start by planting the right seeds. When you’re networking, the equivalent of planting seeds is asking (and answering) relevant questions. Ask people who they want to be connected with and share with them what your ideal referral looks like. Seeds take a while to break the surface, so remember networking takes time – don’t be tempted to keep changing your pitch, stay consistent and shoots will show.
3. Watering
Nothing will grow without watering. So you use your hose/sprinkler/watering can regularly. ‘Watering’ our network is turning up to meetings every fortnight, having regular catch ups and social events with hub members, really getting to know them.
4. Get Rid of the Bugs.
Bugs in your garden are a pain – and they threaten to undo all the hard work and effort you’ve put in, poisoning or eating your beautiful plants. We sometimes come across ‘bugs’ in networking – like the ‘negative mindset mealybug’ or the ‘burnout beetle’ or the horrendous ‘apathy aphid’. When we have bugs in the garden, we treat them – and we must aim to do the same with our networking bugs – whether that’s by spending time with positive people, self-care or reframe and reset our expectations and effort.
5. Maintenance
Gardens take a lot of work to establish, and then require maintenance to keep them in good shape. When my dad went into care, I put in a lot of effort to re-work the garden for Mum. But once I left, she did nothing to maintain it and soon it was chock-full of weeds. So I got her to do the weeding with me, to see the work needed to put it right, and she quickly realised that doing a little maintenance every few days was much easier! (btw she cursed me the whole way but now loves gardening) Once you have established your network, ‘little and often’ maintenance is a question of keeping in touch, making introductions and being an active member of your hub.
6. Talk to your Plants
Maybe this is just me, but I think it works! My plants are definitely happier once I’ve had a little chat with them. Fresh members also love a bit of interaction – so if you’ve received a ka-ching or connection, don’t forget to thank your referrers. A few well-chosen words go a long way – they’ll appreciate the feedback and be more likely to refer to you again.
7. Share the Garden Joy
I love giving and receiving cuttings. Sharing plants is wonderful – helping someone else make their garden thrive is such a pleasure. It’s the same joy we feel when our referrals and connections help a fellow networker to grow their business. Make sure you find out ‘what kind of plants they like’ – i.e who do they want to meet, and then share your connections with them to help them thrive.
Nourishing your network has a lot in common with creating a beautiful garden – it requires effort, maintenance and sharing, but the rewards – the flowers that bloom and the referrals that flow – are well worth the effort.