I met with 400 people in 2024
In 2024 my BHAG (big hairy audacious goal) was to meet with 400 people. Yes, you read that correctly!
How it started
2024 marked my first full year running Shannon Towell Design, after starting in April 2023 on the back of an unexpected lay-off. Networking has been something I have relied on since being a teenager, it led to me getting my first creative job as a Social Photographer at the local newspaper. Making new friends when I moved to Melbourne and knew no one here. It got me my dream job working with Sandpit as an Experience Designer after convincing them over 12 months I was worth a shot. Before diving into my business full-time, 80% of the jobs I received were a direct result of networking.
This reliance on networking only grew stronger as I went out on my own. Now that I was in charge of finding clients, marketing, project managing, etc. it made sense to broaden my network. This was something I amped up in 2023, but made my full-time job in 2024.
The year didn’t start with any goals around networking! My original goals included being a guest on a podcast and getting an international client.
Colour me surprised when both of those goals were completed within weeks of being back for the year. With two under the belt in as many weeks it was a sign to dream bigger.
Whilst I didn’t have any goals around networking originally, I was still going to all the events, and doing all the follow ups continuing on from 2023. Creating a networking goal seemed like a no-brainer.
I needed the goal to be easy to measure and challenging. I decided to focus on 1 to 1 meetings. This would mean they’d be in my calendar (easy to track), and ensure I was following up with people and continue to build relationships post-event.
200 was the number I settled on originally, but after already meeting with 50 people at the end of January. I doubled it. It needed to be challenging, and challenging it was!
Quite the good-looking hustle
Networking became a full-time job, on top of the design work I was doing. I spent time each week looking at events to go to, and filling up my calendar weeks in advance. Variety is the spice of life, so I went to an array of events. A mix of where I’d find my clients, and where I’d find my people. I went to events focused on design, disability, marketing, general business, recruiting, agency owners, mentorship, and software both in person and online.
An ulterior motive was to be memorable. This led to one of the best marketing moves I could have made, my branded wardrobe.
Over the course of the year I went to 130 events. At each one, I’d don my blue getup, pass out business cards like candy (side note: a well designed, and tactile business card really stands out in the digital age!), wrote names and companies in my notebook or phone, connected on LinkedIn and sent many many follow up messages inviting them to book in a networking call.
My goal of 400 became an extra motivation, a push to be brave, and an effective conversation starter! People were intrigued, asking what number they were. Letting them know that as we met an event it didn’t count led to more questions, especially “how do you have the time?”. I didn’t know then, and I still don’t know now.
Making friends was the main motive in those rooms. Friends don’t act like sleazy car salesmen, friends help. By being a friend and helping where I could, again and again, these relationships began to deepen.
