Networking is the ability to network effectively and forge lasting relationships.
Networking gives you the opportunity to build and sustain mutual relationships with people to acquire career information, advice and referrals. This is especially useful for musicians, we all have to know how to make friends in order to get gigs (be they performance, administrative, technology-oriented etc). It is important to make the point that you should aim to make friends rather than contacts as these words have slightly different connotations which the person you are making contact with may well pick up on. You shouldn’t approach a potential contact thinking, “This person can help me further in my career”; instead, approach them thinking, “I would like to get to know this person”!
Research has been done suggesting that the more contacts/friends an individual has the more they earn; however, it is impossible to maintain an infinite number of relationships. This means that we have to know which contacts are useful; which people do we WANT to stay in touch with?
A few networking tips:
- Ask lots of open questions; no “Yes” or “No” questions!
- Don’t be afraid to ask people about their careers; they more than likely want to show off how they became successful.
- Always ask for a contact phone number or email address and follow-up quickly.
- If you want to improve as a performer ingratiate yourself with musicians better than you. This is the fastest way to improve.