How to Network When You Don’t Have Friends

One of my greatest problems in life has always been my asocial behavior.

No, I don’t mean that I’m the kind of guy who paints graffiti at midnight with his crew watching or engages in random vandalism and wanton destruction of public property in search of cheap thrills. However, I’m the kind of fellow that’s generally shy about coming up to strangers and meeting new people, and years have done little to change that.

So as you can expect, I’ve always found networking to be a somewhat painful exercise. While others - including my lovely girlfriend - would just breeze through the crowd, meet new people, make contact with everyone and leave with a dozen new contacts, I’d still be sitting in my quiet little corner and nursing a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease.

If you’re anything like me, then you will probably appreciate the opportunity to meet new people - even if you don’t have any friends who can introduce you to them.

The service I’m writing (and it’s free, so don’t worry, this is not some kind of a commercial plug) is called MeetUp.com. Its purpose is very simple - as the name implies, it shows you a list of meetings that are taking place in a variety of categories, from dancing and singing to politics and economics. More often than not, these groups are usually just a bunch of people meeting up at a specific place to discuss relevant topics. They’re usually not terribly formal, and there’s normally no fee to join. And with so many people finding the group online, you can rest assured that you won’t be the only first-timer there.

You can probably see by now how this service could be a powerful networking tool. Simply find a meeting on a topic that interests you (let’s take knitting for the sake of the argument) and sign-up to attend. When the time comes, make your way there and meet some new people. You will not only get a chance to discuss something that you’re genuinely interested in and passionate about (hopefully overcoming some of the social awkwardness), but you’ll also establish the foundations of a valuable network. You never know when one of the knitting-obsessed ladies you meet there turns out to be the stay-at-home wife of the CEO of a growing local business desperately looking for someone with your qualifications!

Remember one thing, however - meeting like-minded people shouldn’t come across as a blatant attempt to find a job. Even though your main purpose there is to network, you don’t want everyone else to think that you’re only there to find new career opportunities. So when you decide to participate, come with the intention of providing genuine value to the group through your participation. This will make networking easier - and hopefully let you have some fun in the process.

Network early. Network often. And if you don’t have any friends, network through MeetUp.com!