6 Ways to Network Without Actually Networking — Chapter 2

An article I wrote in January, “How Networking Gave Me One of the Best Years of my Life,” made me realize that often I network effectively without having to do much that resembles the classic idea of networking. So each month I’ll share specific examples of the “networking” I do that resulted in paid work, business opportunities and leads, fun collaborations, new friends, or interesting experiences.

Click here to read last month’s (January) article for more networking without networking suggestions, and read on for February’s fanciness:

As usual, I’d like to first acknowledge that everyone’s situation is different. We all don’t have the amount of time, the network to draw from, or the experience I have that makes a lot of this possible. That said, my hope is that these stories and suggestions spark new ideas for each individual reader to apply in a way that fits their personal journey.

So Here We Go

Planning Three Events in Boston and Los Angeles

By emailing a handful of friends and friends-of-friends, in a two week span totaling a few hours of time, I put together three free panel events happening in LA and Boston. In the past, these type of events have regularly generated 100+RSVPs each, by the way. If you’d like to attend, please click the links below.

• March 27th at WeWork-Hollywood: Filmmaking; April 17th at WeWork-One Seaport: Video Marketing, June 27th at WeWork-Central Square: Women In Tech
• I’m also collaborating on an film/music/sketch comedy event in December, info TBD.

Bottom Line: It did take a certain amount of time and effort, as well as a trip to Whole Foods (for cheese plates) to plan all this…plus there is the time needed to pull of the actual event. But my feeling is that it’s a small price to pay to create something(s) that feeds my soul, helps others, and has the added bonus of creating networking opportunities without actually networking. But that’s just me.

Directing Another Video for Techstars Air Force Accelerator

As I’ve mentioned in a number of my previous articles, last year (2018) I directed/edited a few videos for the Techstars Air Force Accelerator. It was a fun and interesting project that I am proud to have worked on. This month, completely unexpectedly, Techstars asked my team and I to collaborate with them on another video project.

Beyond that, within a week of starting work on the project, the folks from Techstars connected me with one new client lead in Los Angeles and another in Boston. Fancy.

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Bottom Line: My team and I provided value to Techstars while doing what we’re passionate about…and a year later without any effort from us beyond that, we were given another opportunity to get paid to do what we love again…that’s Yahtzee.

I realize that many of you may already know that referrals and repeat business can come from a job well done. But the networking without networking lesson I took from this is in the form of a reminder: For me to take the long view of networking and business in general.

Many of us are continually seeking our next client, our next new lead, or our next connection. Many of us need to operate this way in order to pay our bills or hit our quota…so the long view is a luxury that a lot of us can’t afford to take. But if possible, it’s best to set our expectations that given a job well done, while referrals and repeat business may come back to us, they may not arrive in the timeline we’d like. And if we can be patient, and pay our bills/find other work in the meantime, those referrals and repeat business opportunities often start to add up to long-term financial stability.

“That’s What I’m Saying!” — New Podcast Series

Listen to Episode 1 of the “That’s What I’m Saying!” podcast

After doing a podcast interview last month (see blog recap here), I decided to dive into creating a regular podcasting myself. Similar to creating events, it didn’t take much to get it going. I emailed a handful of friends who all said yes and with a little scheduling, I recorded 3 in a month and started planning more for next month.

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As I mentioned previously: The podcasts are just a fun conversations with friends. Once the podcasts are shared online, they will be a way for leads to find me, to get my name out there for years to come, and to help build my network. And all it took was a few emails and an hour of my time in a relaxed recording studio or a living room chatting with friends.

Bottom Line: Everybody knows something about something. And even if you record it by yourself, the end product could potentially reach a wide audience.

Even if it does only reaches a few people, once it’s online, the podcast is doing your networking for you.

Fancy Tech Startup Networking Update: Job Lead Yo

As I mentioned in last month’s blog, I had a meeting with the video production lead at a fancy tech company to whom I pitched a few concepts. I also felt that this person would be a good fit to be on a panel for one of my events, so I followed up with them about it. (The way I got to know the video production lead was through a friend, who I also met through networking without networking.)

While they had a scheduling conflict that required them to politely decline my invitation, in their email response, they mentioned (completely unprompted) that they thought I would be a good fit for a full-time role that that may be created shortly.

But here’s the real networking without networking part — -I didn’t ask the original friend who made the introduction to connect my new friend, they just offered to do it. She asked me what I was seeking to do with my career/business, and a few weeks later, she made the offer to connect me to the video production lead. Similarly, the video production lead offered me the heads up on the lead without me asking. Networking without networking. Fancy.

Bottom Line: Surround yourself with solid people who are interested in your success. How do you do that? There’s no formula that I’m aware of, except perhaps trial and error. But a start might be to approach folks authentically and without agenda (other than to learn about them personally). Be genuinely curious about learning about and from others, sincerely endeavor to help others, and take actions that feed your soul. And really, we should reverse that. — -Create things and take actions that inspire you, have the goal of helping others in mind, be genuinely curious and see who you connect with.

Doing Work for a Fancy Tech Company

After catching up with a friend and former boss at a holiday party, I was surprised when later he asked me if I wanted to rejoin the company to do a variety of work. Given that I was already familiar with the company and their customers, that I had previously worked with my friend, and that I had a wide array of marketing and customer-facing skills that he was in need of, it was a great fit. Ultimately, I received paid work from being curious about a friend’s life and asking him “how’s business?” Networking without Networking, it’s a thing.

Bottom Line: Going into conversations with no agenda other than to understand and to hear another person’s story can create opportunities you didn’t expect.

Road Trip to Vermont

You know what? After writing it all out, I’ve decided to make this story a blog article all it’s own. Stay tuned. Anndddd….scene.

Bottom Line for the Bottom Line

Do good work and continue to cast your line out on the water as much as you able and that feels right to you. The more you maintain that effort, the better chance you have of having it pay off for you. It’s not guaranteed, but often your chances improve of seeing positive results. At least, that’s been my experience, but I’m open to different points of view on this.

The 6th way to network without networking is to write a blog article. So there’s that.

About the Author

Jeremy Jed Hammel got his start working in TV production in the production offices for NBC Late Night, eventually doing some producing work for “Later” and talent research for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”. He also worked in the production offices of the drama “ER.” In the independent film realm, he has produced or directed 15+ short films that screened at over 140 film festivals including one that won Best Film at Comic-Con San Diego and has over 1 million views on Youtube. On the commercial/corporate side of video production, Jeremy has produced, directed, or edited projects for clients such as Techstars Air Force Accelerator, Startup Institute, the Cambridge Innovation Center, UMASS-Lowell, and Alienware/Dell computer, among others.