Okay, so I'm following up on outing from last time.  It was at a nice venue downtown Toronto.  The atmosphere was busy, yet fun. I was nervous at first and only made one contact, but it was a good one, which made going worth it!  Here are 6 tips on networking as an introverted real estate agent that I took away from the experience:

1)  It's good to prepare yourself - decide if you will be the one mostly listening to the people you network with or giving information.  If your doing more listening, get some questions together beforehand that you could ask.  I find the what, where, when, why, who and "how did you feel about that?" questions work easiest.  You just have to pay attention to the person your are speaking to response and gear yourself not to be overly invasive.  If you know you want to share information about what you do, it's good to have an idea what to say.  Read up on whats' going on in the market, and even read the paper just for a back up conversation piece.
2) Wear something you feel good in - That's self explanatory.  When you look good, you feel good.  Plus it takes what you look like off of your mind so you can use your energy concentrate on the bigger picture --connecting with people.
3)  Control your fears - So your not sure if you can succeed at this and you're scared or nervous. Doubts are riding your mind and you're looking for an excuse to stay in your safe comfortable zone at home, office etc.  Pay attention to those thoughts and ask yourself, what's the worse that could happen?  I mean, being afraid is understandable yet counter-productive because whatever you're afraid of hasn't really happened.  It's just in your mind.  When you get negative thoughts like that, tell yourself a positive affirmation like, "I  am confident and calm.  I express myself with ease."
4) Have your contact information ready - Nothing is worse than not having your business cards with you or having tattered ones in your wallet.  I have received a few of those before.  First impressions are important.  Also, make sure your phone is fully charged!
5)  Smile - But be genuine about it.  People, including us, can sniff out if someone is being inauthentic.
6)  Pat yourself on the back - Feel good about what you're doing, especially if networking is something you rarely or never do.  You may only make one contact that night like I did, but eventually if you keep going your confidence will grow because you will know more what to expect, and eventually make more contacts. Baby steps my friend : )

So being an introvert my entire life, large social settings can be one of the hardest things to become a part of.  I am encouraged by friends of mine who are more on the extrovert side to just "jump in and have fun"  and "don't stand against the wall with one person....mix and mingle damn it!"  And even after one or two glasses of courage, the most mixing and mingling that happens is between red wine and white.

I chose to be a real estate agent because I love houses and condos.  I love the helping people to choose such a wonderful thing such as property and turn it into a home of their own and make it beautiful.  Studying to become a real estate agent was great too.  I enjoyed every bit of it...for the most part, and had no problem doing the correspondence through my lunch hour every day at my full time job.  Once complete, I was a well of knowledge, but not quite prepared to face you...the people.  So now, I am figuring out after quietly and discreetly dropping off marketing ads at people's doors, that I can't just stop there.  I have to get out there (or some I am told) and network.

I will be going to my very first social networking event this week.  A birthday party to be exact,  for a well known realtor in Toronto.  I will keep you posted on how it went.  Hopefully, there will less mixing of red and white wine and more mingling.  Fingers crossed...