Even before I went to law school, I noticed something was a little "off' with my mother. She groped for words, had some memory issues, and made unusual comments. By the time I graduated, Dad and I knew she was suffering from some form of dementia. Hiring freezes were making job hunting very difficult, so I did not mind being a caregiver for Mom -- at least for the time being. However, her symptoms became worse and later Dad had a heart attack.
I became a full-time caregiver without ever making a conscious choice to do so. Soon I was dealing with heart disease, leukemia, arthritis, diabetes, prostate cancer, deafness, blindness, and severe high blood pressure, as well as Mom's senile dementia. I continued in the role of being a parent to my parents until first my mom and then my dad passed away. More than twenty years were gone and my brilliant law career never realized.
I was encouraged by family members to write a book of my experiences, which they w ...
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It is funny how the PWCC continues to enrich my networking experience. Even when I least expect it.
Let me share my story with you.
I was at the salon on Saturday a few weeks ago for my mani-pedi. As I was relaxing and soaking my feet in the nice warm water, waiting for my manicurist, Janet, to finish with a client, I picked up a copy of Today’s Chicago Woman and started flipping through the pages. It just so happened that the pictures from the PWCC December Progressive Networking Luncheon were in this issue and I realized that I was in one of the pictures. When my manicurist came over, I said jokingly, “Hey Janet, you are working on a celebrity today”, and showed her my picture in the magazine. Before I knew it, she was showing it to her client, Allison, who she had just finished with and was waiting for her nails to dry.
Allison came over to look at the pictures and of course we introduced ourselves. As we were talking about the PWCC and what we did for a living, I lea ...
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Hand written notes. Take time out of your day once a week to send out a few hand-written thank yous and follow up notes. I can’t tell you how much this means to people and REALLY makes you stand out in a crowd. You can also have fun with it: personalize some of them to match your personality…my favorites are the Lu Lu note cards. If you know the person you just met with loves to golf, send a golf note card!
Quality vs. Quantity. Instead of trying to greet the whole room, set a goal of meeting 2 or 3 GREAT contacts. Do this for each and every networking meeting you attend. Try to connect with many people but prioritize 3 names. Pick people that can impact your business or individuals that you really connected with on a personal level. For example, you walk your dogs at the same city dog park.
Commit to one fantastic group. Then get involved. There is only so much time in the day and it can be exhaust ...
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