（Marc Smith）

商务关系网络公司BNI International的负责人艾凡·米斯纳（Ivan Misner）认为，建立关系网络，即利用各种业务及私人关系，有助于创办公司或赢得新业务。这些关系可能包括同学同事、校友、工作中的熟人以及您所关心的领域中的专家。

建立关系

布兰迪·坦普尔（Brandi Temple）着手建立关系网络纯属偶然，她那时还不知道这是一种商务技能，只是找到了一些教会和少年棒球联盟（Little League Baseball）的熟人的联络方式，有可能给予她一些帮助。其中一个人将一位投资人介绍给她，使她获得了所需的资本贷款。

坦普尔创办的Lolly Wolly Doodle公司现在已成为一家1300万美元的公司，是利用关系网络起家的一个好例子。但建立关系网络对一些人来说却困难重重。英文刊物《INC.杂志》（INC. magazine）、《福布斯杂志》（Forbes ）和《赫芬顿邮报》（Huffington Post）等都提供了建立关系网络的窍门和建议。

请求别人帮助很难，何况我根本没有关系

专家们建议您参加各类会议和社交活动，友好地和别人握手并交换名片，然后同对您最有帮助的人取得联系。这种方式很有效，尤其是如果您在某个业务领域是圈内人，或是生活在人们主要依赖面对面联系的方式建立业务关系的地区。一些参加“千年列车工程”的创业者在火车上交流创意［请见登上交流创意的列车］。

奥利维亚·福克斯·卡贝恩（Olivia Fox Cabane）是一位领导力辅导员，她认为建立关系网络不仅是拓展业务的良好方式，而且是一种生活方式。 她在接受英文网站BusinessNetworkingAdvice.com的采访时说：“建立关系可以在任何时间、任何地点进行。”她说，在日常活动中遇到的人将来可能成为有价值的关系渠道。如果可能的话最好事先了解他们，在他们不太忙的时候上前交谈，而且要主动寻找话题。

在美国国务院最近组办的一次研讨活动中，Adventure Links的总裁安娜·伯奇（Anna Birch）以及加纳企业家奥邦－恩克鲁玛（Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah）和奥保古（Francesca Brenda Opoku）都说，建立一个志同道合的同伴网络是创业的一部分［请点击观看英文视频］。

Networking, or leveraging your business and personal connections, can help you start a company or bring in new business, says Ivan Misner, head of business-networking company BNI. Those connections might include colleagues, fellow alumni, business acquaintances and experts in your field of interest.

Getting connected

Brandi Temple of Lexington, North Carolina, designs and manufactures children’s clothing. She networked almost by accident. When she wanted ideas to help build her business, she found that her church and Little League Baseball contacts could help. One friend connected Temple to an investor who was able to lend her startup capital.

While Temple’s Lolly Wolly Doodle, now a $13 million company, offers a good example of how networking pays off, some people find networking hard. Publications like INC. magazine, Forbes and Huffington Post offer tips that can help.

It’s hard to ask and, anyway, I don’t have connections

Experts suggest this: Show up at conferences and networking events, shake hands, collect cards and then follow up with the most promising contacts. That works well, particularly if you’re part of a business circle or live where people rely mostly on face-to-face contacts to build business relationships. Some entrepreneurs in the Millennial Trains Project network ideas while riding the rails.

Olivia Fox Cabane views networking not just as good business but as a lifestyle. “Networking can happen anytime, anywhere,” the leadership coach told BusinessNetworkingAdvice.com. People you meet in your day-to-day activities may prove to be valuable connections in the future, she said. Just learn about them in advance if possible, approach them when they don’t seem too busy and have something to say to initiate a conversation.

In a recent discussion hosted by the U.S. Department of State, Anna Birch, president of Adventure Links, and Ghanaian entrepreneurs Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah and Francesca Brenda Opoku said building a network of like-minded peers is part of building a business.