Networking is incredibly important for doing any sort of business or even making friends. Sometimes we think that we don’t have good networking skills when challenged to do it at work. But having good networking skills can lead to a promotion, landing your next amazing career, and even growing your own business. Here are some networking tips: Ask for business cards when you meet people, then write on the back of the card how that person is important to your line of work. Keep in touch with people you meet; send thank you cards if they gave you good advice, or call them and meet up for lunch if you want to talk work strategy.

If you’re not quite sure of how networking can help in your career, think of your social life. All of your friends are your friends because of your networking skills; you probably either met them through someone else you knew, or somehow had the chance to meet them because of someone you knew. When I asked a college friend of mine if he was nervous for a job interview he replied, “Of course not, it’s fun to meet new people, and that’s how I think of an interview.” That statement changed the way that I think of networking. Many things in life are “just meeting people” and if we’re good at that, there’s so much more that we’ll be good at in response.