I heard it 5 times in the last 7 days as I had 1:1s with new Club Ichi members.
After a long and successful corporate career, they were hit with the news: A Reduction in Force had affected their role. Now what?
After a few weeks of applying to jobs online, they were feeling beaten down, frustrated, and defeated to have no responses from any of their applications. Not even a rejection letter.
So they began to look up.
Look around.
Look at places where they could go and network.
And they found Club Ichi.
I'll be honest, we didn't create Club Ichi to be a networking group. We didn't set it up for people to really meet and greet and network their way into a job. We really just set it up to ask people to share their knowledge and hang out like-minded professionals doing fun things.
But I find that there is a need for networking because the people who are coming to Club Ichi need connection. Whether they need business, need a job, need advice, need a vendor, need recommendations, need to not feel lonely, need an emotional boost, or need to get away from work for a second, they are turning to Club Ichi for that support.
Many people, like me, don't find value in going to local networking events where there's a panel discussion and free-flowing do-it-yourself networking receptions. We need a little more of a curated experience, and those don't seem to exist.
I have been trying out networking events all over Austin for the last few months. From a women's entrepreneur one to an AMA one to a PRSA one to an MPI one and they are tough...
The panels were all great, actually (and I really, really hate panels), but the networking continues to be relatively unproductive. I always leave thinking that these would be SO MUCH MORE VALUABLE if they would just use my Spontaneous Think Tank method to ask people what challenges they are trying to solve and let them connect over those shared needs and expertise. But none of them do.
This is why we're working hard at Club Ichi to craft some meaningful networking experiences over the coming months. Ways for members to actually connect in meaningful ways that will drive friendship, connection, and longer-term relationships.
If you've seen other communities or associations or organizations do great online networking programs, please share them with me. Otherwise, we'll do what we do best and just experiment with a bunch of them!!!
Look for invitations throughout the month of June and fingers crossed that you can jump into one or two of them!
My request to you is to reach out to a corporate event professional who is actively working right now (and you KNOW would tell you that they don't have time to network) and invite them into Club Ichi.
Invite them to try out one of our virtual networking programs and start to build that community of peers who they will be able to reach out to when they need them.
When we're employed and we don't think we have time is exactly when we need to make time to grow our networks.
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