10 Steps to Effective Networking:

1. Know your business, and know it well
2. Be able to describe what you do in a few clear sentences
3. Know what you want and need from networking
4. Be selective. Find out where you need to go to meet the people you want to meet, and make a point of getting there.
5. Understand how networking works; it's a relationship that you build over time.
6. Act as an ambassador of goodwill whenever you attend an event or meeting. Circulate. Meet everyone you possibly can, and involve yourself in conversation.
7. Think Give, not Get.
8. Listen actively to other people.
9. Follow up wiht contacts promptly by telephone or letter.
10. Stay in touch.

Defining your networking goals is a critical first step toward building an effective network. You should be as clear and specific as possible in descripting your goals, then divide your list into:

• Short-term (month by month)
• Long term (six and twelve-month)
• Future (two to five-year)

Before you can ask other people for help, you have to be clear in your own mind about what you need or want - just saying, "I want more business", usually is not adequate enough to achieve your goals.

Print the following Goals List to help you map out your future as a "Woman on the Fast Track!"

Goals List: