You might recall that I currently live in the middle of nowhere.  Well, when you’re in the middle of nowhere and you have even the slightest acquaintance within 1 hour of you, you meet up with them.  Seriously.  Do it.  You just might have a fabulous time.

I just got in from having dinner and coffee with a new friend. He’s actually my fraternity brother, and while we’ve known each other for about 3 years and have several friends in common, we never really traveled in the same circle.  We were friendly, but we didn’t become friends until just a few weeks ago.  Our friendship, for me at least, was solidified tonight.  But that’s not exactly what this post is about.  I’ll get to it. 

Unfortunately, I can’t remember who gave me this networking advice, but I think it’s good stuff, so here it is: “Make it a point to meet one new person every day.”  (If you’re the originator of that advice, feel free to name it and claim it in the comments.)

Getting out of the house and meeting folks is particularly critical for me because my office is in my house.  Coworkers?  Nonexistent.  Water cooler chats?  Don’t happen.  Office gossip?  Well, my office staff are pretty chatty but make for a lousy network.  I could work in a cave and the result would be the same.

Point is, I need to start working on my NJ-NY network.  I’m going to try to meet one new person each day.  And seeing as the regional custom (north of all points in Virginia?) seems to be to barely acknowledge anyone else’s existence, it will take more work than usual on my part.

But that’s okay.  I’m sociable.