Welcome to Mind Tools' video learning series.How often have you heard people say, "It's not what you know, it's who you know that counts"? Well, that's doubly true in business! The better your professional network, the more likely you are to succeed. But, if the word "networking" sends chills down your spine, you’re definitely not alone! With confidence and practice, professional networking is a great way to share knowledge and contacts among your peers. And it can create exciting new opportunities for projects, collaboration and career development. Here are six steps to help you build an effective professional network. First, write down your objectives – these are the things you want to achieve, like finding specific information or building a network of specialist contacts. Keep these goals in mind as you move through the next steps. Next, decide what you have to offer – what knowledge, skills and insights do you have that other people might find useful? Next, map your network. You can do this by listing the professional contacts that you already have, along with any that you'd like to have. These can be people that you work with, former co-workers and clients, business contacts, and anyone in the professional organizations and voluntary groups that you belong to. Then, identify any gaps. Ask yourself: will your network make the most of what you have to offer? Will it help you to meet your objectives? Or, do you need to widen your list of contacts? Now, you can start to plan your networking actions. Be ready to talk about what you do, what your organization does, and what you're interested in learning from face-to-face situations. Also, think about how you could use social media to connect with people with similar interests and experience. As you make more contacts, try to act as a "hub" – someone who people from different networks will turn to. Building rapport is the key to making this happen. And balancing conversations between what you have to offer and what you’d like to achieve will help you to sustain those contacts. To learn more about Professional Networking, see the article that accompanies this video. © 2022 Mind Tools by Emerald Works Limited.