As a (formerly?) unconnected person – You can become connected. It just takes effort. My favorite way to think about it comes from an old dating forum: Okay so

As a (formerly?) unconnected person – You can become connected. It just takes effort. My favorite way to think about it comes from an old dating forum: Okay so you want to date a super model … how many super models are you meeting every day? If you aren’t where the super models are, you aren’t going to date a supermodel. Same with networking. Go where the people you want to meet are. Then meet them. Want a big network in tech? Go be an intern (or whatever you can get) at a large tech company. Have lunch with a new person every day. Or every few days. Spelunk from there Want a big network of complainers? Go hang out on twitter. There’s lots of us and we love to complain about everything. Once upon a time on this very forum I posted a blog: “Hey I’m coming to the Bay Area for 2 months, it’s my first time in USA. Who wants to hang?” that got me a string of coffee dates with dozens of people and it was amazing. I failed to keep in touch but most of us still recognize each other online.