How were your holidays?
Did you make any interesting new contacts?
Did you get a bargain on holiday thanks to your contacts?
Or even… did you go on holiday with one of your professional contacts?
Professional networking isn’t only useful for making contacts who help you and benefit your work or business; you can also make the most of them on the leisure side.
Let me give you my own example from these holidays.
Twenty years ago (phew, how time flies!!), when I was at university in Barcelona, I discovered Cala Montjoi, a holiday village set in a cove in Roses, in the Cap de Creus Natural Park. One of my university classmates was the son of one of the owners, and our friendship has lasted to this day. I went a couple of times and loved it.
This year I was determined to spend a week there, and it was great. I did quite a lot of sport, switched off completely, and my family and I had a wonderful time in good company. The only thing I missed was going to “El Bulli”, which was nearby, but my car broke down and the repair cost me as much as the tasting menu for two.
But the best thing was the diving course I did thanks to my friend: an instructor all to myself and a discount on the price of the course. Highly, highly recommended. I’ve dived surrounded by barracudas, been less than 1 metre from a moray eel and a conger eel, and seen starfish, octopuses, groupers… Now, with my PADI, I can dive anywhere in the world.
The second part of my holidays was in a remote village in Valladolid where, thanks to one of my neighbours, I met a biologist who works for the NGO GREFA (Grupo de Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona, a native wildlife rehabilitation group), which I’ve been a member of for more than 15 years. Until now I’d only been a member and hadn’t been out in the field with them.
Now, thanks to meeting this biologist, I’ll be able to help him with an interesting programme introducing barn owls and common kestrels to control the plagues of voles that did so much damage to crops a few years ago.
So I’ll be able to enjoy one of my greatest hobbies, nature and birdwatching, and keep on learning.
In conclusion, when you make new contacts, always try to talk about their hobbies, because you may have one in common, or they may be able to recommend an interesting place.
Happy networking!
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