The 3 tips for success a group of Highly Successful Business Women had in common

Canadian Women in Communications Power Networking

Looking back at the Canadian Women in Communications Power networking event last year it was surprising how unanimous all of the leaders on the panel were on how these three tips for success had helped them in their career. With leaders such as Sandy Pell the Communication Manager at Hoot suite, Meredith Powell one of the CO-Founders to the Next Big Thing and many others, the whole night was full of great conversation, advice and ideas. 

Taking a look at my notes from the event, here are the 3 tips for success that was common among all of them:

1) Have lots of coffee dates

All of them made time outside of work to build relationships with other successful professionals. They were persistent and dedicated to fostering their own personal networks and growing it by making time to meet new people when they could. These relationships that they built wouldn't always be beneficial right away, but overtime they were grateful that they had made that connection. Either through an introduction to a new key contact or helping open the door to a great new job opportunity.

2) Make it easy for people to help you

You want to lower the difficulty and barriers associated with helping you. Find out ahead of time when the people you want to meet and gain assistance from are most available and when it would be easiest for them to help you. The easier you make it for others to help you, the higher the chance that they will do it. For example, if you are looking to set up a coffee meet up with your cities local celebrity ceo, pick a date and time where you think they'll be the least busy and choose a location that is easy for them to meet you at. Maybe that location for example would be the coffee shop right across the street from where their business is so they won't need to travel.

If they don't have something positive to gain from meeting you right away, making it easier for them to comply to your request shows that you are considerate and thoughtful. All of that makes it more likely that they will help you again in the future.

3) Find mentors but the best will be informal

Surround yourself with those who are more experienced and knowledgeable. They will help you grow much faster and especially if you find a mentor. Nearly all of the leaders on the panel had at least one mentor who had helped them in a career. The mentors that had the greatest impact were often not developed through formal mentorship programs but through relationships they went out to build for themselves. They started initially through coffee meeting requests and found the relationship to be mutually beneficial and developed into an informal mentorship.

I hope this inspires you to have more coffee dates, be more thoughtful in how you ask for hep and network with individuals who could be your mentors.

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By Stevie Vu

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