Networking is a funny concept. In business, you're supposed to network with peers in your industry to stay fresh in your trade, grow in your field, and keep a healthy list of prospective clients (depending on what you do).
 
Ugly BettyI saw an episode of Ugly Betty the other week, in which she is forced go out and network, and she hates it. It all seems so disingenous to walk around a bar, having trivial, three-minute conversations that conclude with an exchange of business cards.
 
I think a lot of people feel that way about networking - whether they are in sales, ministry, or some other trade. Almost every way you turn, there is someone telling you that you ought to network.
 
And they're right.

You can't grow in your influence if you don't get to know more people. But how networking is often portrayed (how Ugly Betty saw networking) isn't the only way.
 
I'm not a very good salesman, and I hate idle chit-chat, which means that I'm not a very good networker. So, I've learned alternative methods of growing my influence: doing favors for people.
 
If I see someone with a need that I or someone I know can meet, I try to help that person. This does two things:

One, it feels good. Can you believe that? Helping people actually feels good; it's its own reward.

Two, it eventually leads to people doing favors for you. Remember that old adage, "what goes around, comes around"? Well, it's true. Now, keep in mind that you don't do favors for people, expecting anything in return, but if you do enough of them, people will begin coming to you, asking for help and even offering to help you in fulfilling a dream of your own.
 
The truth is that we can't survive, much less succeed, in this world without the help of others. We need each other. Perhaps, we've been thinking about getting ahead in this world in all the wrong terms. Maybe it just begins with you and me doing something selfless for someone else and seeing how God can multiply it.

Try it.