Interest In Others, The Keystone of Good Networking

Over and over in this life I've come to the conclusion that the best thing we can do for others if we want to help them and ourselves, is take a real interest in them.

Yesterday I was talking with my photographer friend Rachel.  We have been in touch over the last few months via email which is great, but yesterday she emailed me something that prompted me to call and I'm really glad I did.  I'll explain what I mean a bit more below.

Nothing can take the place of good ole fashioned live communication, let me tell you.  It can be a little awkward feeling at first, especially when there hasn't been much live discussion for months or even years.  When the reconnection occurs, though, I always find it interesting how happy the other person is, generally speaking, to hear from me.  It's heartening really, and I always silently kick myself for letting the "line" between us sag.

Rachel did our wedding pictures and we also worked together at Earthlink back in the day.  So we had some things to catch up on in terms of who is doing what and all that which came easily.  Once that kind of chit-chat is over, though,  I usually find the conversation will come to a pause and at that point  people will often say "well, good talking to you, stay in touch, etc., etc." and end off.

It had been a while, so I wanted to know more about what Rachel had been up to and where she saw herself heading.  As it turned out, she had just been reviewing that question herself.