Remember this? I originally created and posted this a few weeks ago. It shows the possibilities of having a strong social network. Notice the happy face on the right in the middle? Ya – that’s me. The difference between the right and the left is something I talk about in the conference sessions, webinars, keynotes and trainings I do, what I write about on this blog and talk about in the webinar. This power of the network has been valuable to me in many instances. Yet nothing rivals the experience I had yesterday…
Although I do consulting under the name of Engaged Learning, I have done it on the side of a full time job. This job came to an end yesterday in the form of a layoff. I had been anticipating this and was not surprised (in fact I am surprised it had not happened earlier in the year). My first thoughts going forward? “Bring it on…”
The first thing I did was to tweet it out.
Just laid off. Anyone looking for a social media / Learning guy? Contract or FTE is fine!
Then I called my wife. (Backwards, maybe?)
When I got home I sent my resume off to family and friends. Some of these friends are traditional friends – ones I talk to in person often or have known for years. Yet as I was emailing and tweeting, I was surprised at the number of ‘friends’ I have whom I have only met online – or initially met online and maybe once at a conference – yet we keep in contact through social means. People like Guy Wallace, B.J. Schone, Dave Wilkins, Tom Stone, Rick Palmer and many others. Others I had responses on twitter from George Easton, Steve Nguyen, Kathryn Ray, L aura Kratochvil, Dennis Callahan (some of which I have met in person, others I have not) … and the list goes on and I wish I could list them all.
Then multiply that. I have seen many instances where my extended network continued on to their extended network and I have received responses back from that second or third + level. Wow.
Result? Excitedly overwhelmed! I was not able to keep up with the responses from everyone and the resources they sent me. I have a HUGE list of things to do today and I can’t thank all these people (all of you) enough. Nothing is near solid yet (heck, it was only 1/2 day’s worth of networking), but compared to the other times I have been laid off, I feel like I was in a Tesla at full speed rather than the accustomed Pinto barely reaching the top of the school zone speed.
“Thanks” could never be enough. The power of this network blew me away. Really – I teach and live this stuff all the time and I did not expect this level of response.
Still, if anyone else knows of opportunities (or needs my mad social and learning skills yourself) I am very open and optimistic – please send them my way. Most of what I have seen is contract or shorter projects, to which I am very open.
To sum this up – don’t discount your social and virtual network. Reach out as much as possible. Be of value to them as you can. And, when you need it, they will be of value to you.
