Typology of relationships for creative projects.

Introduction

With networking, you will have the possibility of creating productive approaches that can help you build strong relationships with other people who are also looking to expand their brand.

Your first network will naturally be oriented towards your community, which might be made of families and friends. You should take care of this network, as they might constitute your first business environment. But in any case, you should also intend to enlarge this network toward other communities that will give you opportunities to develop your business further, answering to local demand and expectations.

Once this lesson is completed and approved, learners will be able to:

1. Know the advantages of networking.
2. Choose the type of relationship they are interested in based on the aid or the objectives that they want to achieve for the development of the project.

Advantages of networking:

One of the advantages of networking, when developing a project or business, is that it makes you more visible in your environment. That is, if you take care of relationships (classmates, teachers, co-workers, professionals in your sector, etc.), they will come to you when they need a service that you provide. Also, it will be useful to promote your project.

Besides, expanding your network can not only open up a new job or business opportunities, but it will also give you a support network that can help you at each stage of your project.

Attending events around your sector will be an opportunity to keep up to date and keep up with market trends. By interacting with other professionals and companies in the same sector, you will be able to exchange information about the environment, you will know what the competition is doing, what they offer and how they are doing it, and, consequently, you will be able to identify new business opportunities for your company or draft.

Finally, it should be noted that one of the intrinsic benefits of networking is giving without expecting anything in return. In addition to being rewarding, when you help someone, you earn respect, referrals, connections, and friendship. In essence, you are also helping yourself and your career.

Types of relationships for the development of projects:

At the time of thinking about your network and its extension, you should make sure that it involves a wide variety of relevant actors including public and private stakeholders, supporting organisations and associations, consultancies, etc.

The cooperation finds multiple fields of application and can be practically extended to all the functional areas of the company, although the most strategic ones are technology and production, commercial, marketing, and financial. These fields of application are not exclusive, it is more usual to find cooperation agreements that cover more than one functional activity.

Cooperation can be undertaken with local businesses, which will better your local anchorage, but also with foreign businesses, to better your capacity of working in a foreign market.

However, the first thing you should be clear about is what objectives you have in the project you are carrying out, which will determine where you want to direct your relationships. Thus, if you are a freelancer, you will prefer personal networking, which expands the personal references that others can offer about you. If you are an entrepreneur, you may prefer operational networking, which creates bonds with new potential partners, suppliers, and buyers. And if you want to look for new criteria or ideas, you will surely prefer strategic networking.

PERSONAL NETWORKING:

WHO: entrepreneurs and people who want to develop professionally.

OBJECTIVE: to create relationships to promote your personal and professional development, and thus surround yourself with useful contacts.

OPERATIONAL NETWORKING:

WHO: to those people who already have a company or a project underway.

OBJECTIVE: to find people or entities that facilitate the operation of your business: suppliers, buyers, partners ... It is fundamentally based on building good working relationships. Those can be developed by participating in dedicated events or fairs, as an example.

STRATEGIC NETWORKING:

WHO: entrepreneurs with a few years of experience running their own business.

OBJECTIVE: create networks of contacts that get better business opportunities. The strategic network will help you to be clear about your priorities, have new ideas and get the support of stakeholders.

The place where you can develop both types of networking is through social networks (LinkedIn per excellence), events or taking advantage of coworking spaces.

Conclusion

Knowing the different types of relationships that you can establish when carrying out your project will allow you to decide what actions to carry out and to know what you will get from them, all without losing sight of the objective you want to rise in the development of your project.

Bibliography

Tipos de networking

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