Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

Connect – Engage and Learn

The following post is from Octavia Costea M’15, founder of Spreads&Beyond, a spring 2015 hatchery business.

Octavia Costea M'15, Founder, Spreads&Beyond

Octavia Costea M’15, Founder Spreads&Beyond

As entrepreneurs, we increasingly want to break thru the noise and make a path where we are noticed. We are seeking to stand out from the crowd and create connections. We do that over and over again by networking, and by engaging in conversations with strangers. But what we actually learn from these experiences is that only true connection is valuable and leads to quality relationships.

Throughout my involvement with the Babson Community and my startup, Spreads&Beyond, I learned a multitude of things, and I will share with you the three most important ones.

    1. Share your idea with others or start a purposeful conversation whenever you have an opportunity to do so. Be confident and don’t have any expectations! I say this because a lot of times I ended up meeting amazing people just by being outgoing and polite.
    2. Once you get to know someone, ask what you can do for them first, not what they can do for you. Be genuine, and don’t do it with an ulterior motive. True connections come only when you are authentic.
    3. Reflect. This is important because reflecting on what you learned will not only help you grow as and individual, but it will also contribute to your development as an entrepreneur. Nothing compares with the skills we learn from interacting directly with people and seeing their reaction to our approach. Only deep thinking and strategizing on how to become better will decipher the key to valuable networking.

I will end this blog post with a quote that I heard at an award ceremony. I can’t remember the name of the speaker to give him credit, but I remember the 4 T’s he mentioned: “be truthful, transformative, trustworthy, and thankful.” Doing so will help you connect with your inner selves and then with others surrounding you.

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