How to Build Your Network

As Admin Month ends, let’s focus on community: how to find your support system and maintain a network that fuels your professional growth.

Recorded at EA Ignite Fall 2024 and produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals - ASAP. Learn more and submit a listener question at asaporg.com/podcast.

Leah Warwick: Hi, everyone. I'm Leah Warwick, and you're listening to "The Admin Edge." As Admin Month is coming to a close, we wanted to share this episode with you about the power of building your professional network. At EA Ignite Fall 2024 in Miami, Mia Lane talked to one of our keynote speakers, Julia Korn, about why your network is your net worth, and how to form, grow, and maintain authentic, professional relationships.

Mia Lane: Hello, I am Mia Lane, Manager of Executive Administration at UKG, ASAP Advisory Board Member, and the Board Chair of EA Ignite. My guest today is Julia Korn, Founder and CEO of The Authenticity Guide, and a keynote speaker here at this event, EA Ignite. Welcome to the podcast, Julia.

00:00:57                     

Julia Korn: Thank you, Mia. It is an absolute pleasure to be here with you.

Mia Lane: So glad to have you. And might I add, your keynote this morning was phenomenal, very inspiring, and you just kicked off the session in a great way. Thank you so much.

Julia Korn: Thank you. The crowd was amazing, so got to hand it to the crowd.

Mia Lane: Yeah, so we are going to jump right in. The first question would be: What strategies have you found most effective for expanding your professional network?

Julia Korn: So I employ a lot of strategies. Essentially, when I think about expanding my network, I really just break it down to meeting interesting people. I think when you think about it like human connection and not networking and professional network, it feels a lot more approachable, a lot less scary, and a lot more human.

00:01:55

And so I do this by flexing my curiosity muscles. So what I mean by that is I read a lot from thought leaders that I respect, I go to events where cool and interesting people are presenting on topics that could teach me something new, and I regularly make time to connect with people who I don't know. 

One thing that's been really helpful for me in kind of keeping energy and motivation to expand my professional network is that I'm always building my list of what I call professional crushes. What I mean by that [is] when we think of a crush, we think of a feeling of admiration for someone, that quickening in our heart. A professional crush is like that. It's not romantic, of course, but it conjures that same feeling of excitement about a person, and so I'm always looking for people that I'm crushing on a little bit professionally, because that inspires me. Then I follow their work. Then I read their book. Then I look where they're speaking. Then I look at who they're interacting with, who they're talking to. 

00:03:03

So just let your curiosity take control and see who excites you. 

Mia Lane: Nice, thank you. Our next question: Can you share a specific experience where networking significantly impacted your career?

Julia Korn: Yeah. There are so many to choose from, but I did want to share an example of I joined during COVID. We were all kind of in these new, online communities. I joined an online community for authors, for people who were writers and felt kind of alone in writing. Unexpectedly, I made really good friends with a lot of people in this community, and stayed in touch with them because we supported each other. We were each other's cheerleaders.

00:03:51

One of the people in that group who I stayed in touch with and helped her with a few things professionally, she was a contributor to Forbes. So when I decided that one of my professional goals was to be a contributor to Forbes, it's not like I just cold-emailed someone out of the blue and said, "Hey, will you look at my résumé?" Now. This was a long relationship that I had with this person, where there was a lot of give, a lot of take, [and] a lot mutual trust. And so when I made the ask for an introduction to her editors at Forbes, she was happy to do that. So it was through a connection, through networking, through a relationship that I got that opportunity, and I still write for Forbes. It's one of the best things in my career is that I get to write about topics that are top-of-mind for me, all from that relationship. 

Mia Lane: Wow, awesome. So how do you approach networking in virtual settings, compared to in-person events?

00:04:51                     

Julia Korn: Yeah, it's different, right? When you're in person, you can feel someone's vibe. You can feel the energy coming off of them. It's so much easier to calibrate how you respond. Are you a hugger? Are you a handshaker? Are you having a snack? The small talk is easier.

Mia Lane: Body language.

Julia Korn: Body language is such a big part of communication. Just like anything in networking – you'll hear me say this phrase a lot – embrace being human. Embrace being vulnerable and being imperfect. So the more you can share about yourself, in the absence of that body language and personal cues, the better.

So if you're networking virtually, have something in your background that someone can ask about, that's a point of human connection, right? Like I have a picture of my husband and my kid and my background. It's like, "Oh, yeah, that's my girl. That's the whole reason my heart beats. Do you have kids? No? Do you have nieces and nephews?" So build human connection first and look for opportunities to do that. 

00:05:44

I also think [that] just because you're connecting virtually doesn't mean you can't schedule virtual coffee chats and virtual meetings. One thing I like to do, actually, that's a nice touch is I like to actually send someone a Starbucks virtual gift card before our virtual coffee so then it's like, you're not actually sitting at a coffeeshop, but you bought them coffee, and you're sitting down and you might be having coffee or tea. So that's just an extra, nice touch. 

Mia Lane: Nice, I like that. What advice would you give someone who feels shy or apprehensive about reaching out to someone new?

Julia Korn: This is so common. This is the biggest question I get. "I'm just so scared to reach out. They're so important. Little old me…" So I would encourage you to think about: What's the worst that can happen? The "what's the worst that can happen?" is a really helpful exercise because, generally, it helps us take the terror out. When pressed, the worst thing that could happen is that someone doesn't respond, right? Then you're kind of no worse off than you were in the first place.

Mia Lane: In the first place, exactly.

00:06:50                     

Julia Korn: I can tell you that when I get – I get dozens of reach-outs a day, and 99% of them are horrific because they're cold and they're not personalized. I'm sure you do, too, on LinkedIn. "I'd like to connect. I see that you're a founder." It's like, nothing. I'm all over the internet. It is so easy to make something personalized. If someone sends me a message that says, "Hey, I read this piece you wrote. It really resonated with me. Thank you. I'm thinking about this thing in a new way. Will you talk to me for 15 minutes?" Girl, I am responding "yes" so fast. People love flattery. So research someone, give them flattery, make a modest ask. The worst case, they don't respond. Best case, you get to be in this person's orbit for 15 minutes.

I do this, too, by the way, for my professional crushes. A lot of times, they don't respond, but sometimes they do, and then I get to be friends with them. And so I would just challenge you to ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? And then, what is the best that can happen? 

00:07:50                     

Mia Lane: Yes, focus on the positive. Awesome. So how do you maintain and nurture relationships within your network over time?

Julia Korn: Yeah, so it's really important to do this, right? So often with one-off events, like conferences, you meet someone, they're great, and you never speak to them again. That's not what we want for strategic, authentic networking. We want to stay in touch with people.

There's a few ways to think about doing this. For some people who are very gifted, staying in touch comes naturally. We're not talking to those people right now. If you are one of these people who know you tend to become complacent, or go back to autopilot and not reach out, you can flex your administrative professional chops and get organized. So write down a list of names of all the people that you want to stay in touch with in the next year. That could be 20 to 50 names. Write them down, because when you're looking at something written down, it's top of mind. And then set a reminder every other week, once a month: Send an email. Send a text. Reach out. "I read this article and it made me think of you and the conversation we had. Hey, here's a picture of my family at our latest beach vacation. What have you been up to?" 

00:09:06

What that says is, "I thought of you. I paused my day. I paused my thoughts, thinking about me and my life, and I thought about you. You popped into my mind." Do that regularly. And if it doesn't come naturally to you, put it in your calendar. 

I do what I called "scheduled thoughtfulness." You would think it might sound counterintuitive, like, "If you have to schedule thoughtfulness, is it thoughtful?" I would argue that scheduled thoughtfulness is even more thoughtful because you're making the intentional effort out of your day to be thoughtful. So what I do is I have my scheduled thoughtful time, and I go through my mental Rolodex of my friends and my connections and I say, "Oh, Rebecca was supposed to have that promotion conversation yesterday. Let me text her and ask her how it went. Oh, my gosh, Hilary just got done with her first trimester. I need to ask her if she's still puking." 

00:09:57

All of those human things, make time. It can be text. It can be email. All it is, is "I thought of you." Do it periodically. Write it down. 

Mia Lane: Nice. So can you give me an example of an opening line of what you say when you meet someone new?

Julia Korn: Introduce yourself. "How it's going? What did you think of that shared experience we just had?" So if you experience something with someone, "What did you think of that session? What did you think of that keynote?"

Mia Lane: So, general questions.

Julia Korn: Yeah.

Mia Lane: To get them talking.

Julia Korn: To get them talking, yeah. So like, what is a shared experience you just had that you can ask the person about? We're all sort of gauging how vulnerable we all want to be with each other, so the first few seconds are spent as we all do this calibration of "how real and deep can I go with you?"

00:10:52

You can ask questions. Asking questions is a great way to gauge how much someone wants to go in with you. So you might say, "How'd you think that session was?" And they might say, "You know, I was really distracted." And you might say, "Oh, tell me more about why you were distracted?" And you might learn that something's going on for them at home. That's a totally different conversation from, "What did you think of that session?" "It was great. I'm so excited to action this thing at work." "Oh, tell me about work." 

So I call that a two-question approach. When you approach someone new, don't just ask one question; ask two questions. The opening question, their response, and then your followup question based on their response. This will exhibit curiosity and make them like you more. 

Mia Lane: Nice, I love it. Well, we do have a listener question submitted by one of our community members. Their question is: How can admins make connections outside of their immediate circle or industry to broaden their career options?

00:11:48                     

Julia Korn: It's such a great question. I love EA Ignite, but, yes, that makes sense. There are a lot of people with your job title here. But I encourage you to think about connecting with people who are in different industries, even when they have your same job title, right? You never know what opportunities are going to come.

I've spoken to dozens of women so far today already who might have similar titles, but their jobs couldn't be more different, actually, because they're in such different sectors. So don't discount the potential of really diversifying at events like this. That's the first thing I would say. 

The second thing is: Get curious with the events that you go to. Do you have coworking spaces in your area? They often throw happy hours. They do startup pitch nights. Go to the companies in your area and see what events they're throwing. You should not ever feel beholden to going to events just in your industry or just for your function. Use curiosity. Go to things. Be a friend's plus-one to their work event. Get courageous. Step out of that box. 

00:12:52

The other thing is, you don't have to be in a professional networking setting to network. 

Mia Lane: That's true.

Julia Korn: Networking, for me, happens when I'm walking my dog. I cannot tell you how many coaching clients I've gotten from walking my dog.

Mia Lane: Really?

Julia Korn: Yeah. So be open that wherever you – so I don't want this to be exhausting, not like you're on guard everywhere, but just everything is an opportunity to connect with another human, learn about what they do, and have them on your team. I'm such a believer that, being out in the world, you don't know what beautiful connections are just around the corner.

Mia Lane: Nice. Julia, it has definitely been a pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you for joining us here on "The Admin Edge." Now, where can our listeners find you online?

00:13:39                     

Julia Korn: Thanks for asking, Mia. They can go to juliakorn.com. That will direct you straight to my company's website, The Authenticity Guide. You can find me on LinkedIn, on Instagram. I just want to say, Mia,  thank you so much. We had the opportunity to meet virtually and connect before this conference, so I feel like we already have a relationship. I am your cheerleader.

00:14:02                     

Mia Lane: I am your cheerleader. [laughter]

Julia Korn: So a lot of mutual admiration here, but I just felt very grateful to get to do this with you in particular. So thank you.

Mia Lane: Thank you so much. It's been great.

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Leah Warwick: Thank you for listening to "The Admin Edge," produced by the American Society of Administrative Professionals, original music and audio editing by Warwick Productions, with video and audio production at our events by 5Tool Productions. If you like this podcast, please leave us a nice review, five stars, and subscribe. If you'd like to submit a listener question, you may do so on our website at ASAPorg.com/podcast.