Our founder and principal consultant, Cassie Kane, has been, and continues to be, incredibly intentional in growing the Kane Learning business. If you’re like me, you may wonder – what are some of the practical ways that she’s been intentional in doing this?
This blog post is the first in a series of 4 posts where we share with you 4 practical activities Cassie has used to grow the business.
First up: Build Relationships
Some colleagues come and go, but there are others we connect to and remain in a relationship with for years. For me, that includes my friend Dominique. We first crossed paths while working for a large retailer. She was already a few steps further in her career than I was. When it came time for me to move departments to continue growing in my career, she invested time in helping me refine what I was looking for and who she knew in the organization she could connect me to. While we built a friendship, she also became an advocate for me within the company. We were in a similar season of life, and our summer maternity leaves overlapped. We met up for coffee with our newborns during that leave from work. We stayed in touch even after we both moved on from our roles and, ultimately, from that organization. Then years later, she is the person who connected me to Cassie Kane, who brought me on to the Kane Learning team.
For Cassie, it is these relationships that have helped her grow her business:
“Growing my small business has happened through relationships. In the beginning, when I was an independent contractor, I booked my first work by reaching out to people I had worked with in the past. They knew me and my work, trusted me to deliver, and were happy to support my new career goals. I was able to grow my business by seeing each engagement as an opportunity to build on those relationships rather than a transactional activity. I continue to work with my first clients today, nine years after beginning my business.”
So, what are some practical ways to maintain your professional relationships?
Stay in contact – this sounds obvious, but we all get busy! If we aren’t intentional about staying in contact, a year or more can go by without making a connection with someone.
Support their goals – when we are working to develop or grow our own business, or network, we can forget about the person in front of us! How can you support them?
Be authentic – this one stands out among all the rest when it comes to how Cassie builds relationships. She operates out of a place of authenticity, and as a result, she builds trust and rapport.
Where small businesses can be short on cash or supplies, their most valuable resource is often quality business relationships! Which tip do you want to invest in this week?
To read more about these and learn even more ways to maintain your professional relationships, check out this LinkedIn post.