Networking Fundamentals

by Colin Wright

The first edition of this book was titled Networking Awesomely, in part because I thought networking was awesome, in part because I was very excited to be publishing a book. Truth be told, it was all I could do to keep myself from adding an exclamation point to an already enthusiastic moniker.

Now, a little older, a little wiser, and with far more books under my belt, I’ve returned to rewrite this title. The aim was to share essentially the same ideas, but present them in a less repetitive, more concise and digestible fashion. I also wanted to publish something with superior editing and formatting, and a reduction in verbiage.

Despite the change in name, presentation, and words I use to describe the concepts, I still believe the ideas presented in the following pages are awesome and worth sharing. They were revelatory to me as I picked them up over the years, and I still receive a large number of emails and in-person thanks when on tour from readers who gleaned helpful tidbits, and sometimes grand umbrella-concepts, that helped them grok what it is to build healthy, helpful, and long-lasting relationships with other people.

I hope you find some value in these ideas, too.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 19, 2010

Reviews

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decided to read this on the plane on the way to the World Domination Summit. Really bad idea!

Advice includes things like: be confident, work out and get your teeth whitened so you look great and everyone will want to hang out with you, do it just like how you acquire more friends.

Before I read this, I was really excited about meeting everyone, and I was anticipating it as a huge gathering of people who were basically just like. That was a great mindset, and the advice in this book killed it and made me feel all self-conscious. Whiten my teeth? Hell, I haven't even gotten a haircut! And how the hell do you acquire more friends???

I think it's a decent book, and I agree with the message that the point is to get to know people and form relationships with them, not to check off some box, acquire better twitter stats, or be some schmoozing sleazeball. I just read it with terrible timing.

But then again, I met one of the guys featured in the book on the train from the airport! I don't think I would have made the connection if it wasn't so fresh in my mind. That was cool.

[Stephen Heiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a non-networking networking book. It's not the same old "never eat alone" claptrap, but rather a book about meeting new people and about how mature individuals can and should conduct themselves in those interactions, starting at the first impressions and going beyond. At the core of this behavior, which is in line with the author's "act accordingly" mantra, is being the real and authentic you all the time. It doesn't sound hard, and it isn't, as long as you are willing to sometimes act against convention or expectation.

I suspect - though I have yet to meet him in person - that Colin practices what he preaches. He's open but not pushy, he's conversational but not domineering. And that's the sort of person you want to know and be around. Nothing is stopping you from being that kind of person yourself.

[Katya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just can't. 63% through and I'm giving up.

The best part of this book is the positive energy that practically jumps off the page. The not-best part is the repetition. Oh, and and the repetition. It seemed like a little bit of a cheat that he farmed out a good 50% of the book as his own personal networking experiment; the quality of those responses vary from inspiring to downright mundane. This book would be a billion times better if it were condensed and didn't have so many frat party photos (ugh). It looks like Mr. Wright has updated and re-released the book under the title Networking Fundamentals but I'd rather read another book of his (Start a Freedom Business!) than give this one a second reading.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a lot of good advice in this book, and for .99, it was definitely worth the read.

I think it was perhaps a little too long. There were some guest-author essays on networking that I could've done without; some of them did not have very original ideas. Wright's chapters, however, were informative and I enjoyed the levity he used to write the book.

(lol @ "networking douchebaggedly")

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title suggests, Colin Wright offers his take on what successful networking is and what it involves. With regard to networking in general and learning how to make yourself valuable to those around you, the book contains a lot of practical advice. When it comes to navigating certain kinds of relationships, however, some of the author's suggestions are questionable. Overall, an informative read.

[Elie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those of us who are shy and recoil at the word "networking," Wright shows us how it really just means "making friends." Convincingly, with plenty of examples from his own often painful social life, he makes a case that we should like the people in our networks, that we should enjoy being social, and that there is joy--and good--to be had from increasing our connections to other people.