Being a freelancer can be hard work, take a lot of your time, and demand much in the way of commitment. However, if you ever learn the science and art of networking properly, you’d be surprised at how many career doors and opportunities that can open up for you. One freelance writer and speaker already knows this all too well. In fact, she’s written a book about it!
Alaina G. Levine is a Tucson-based networking expert who’s just written a new book called “Networking for Nerds: Find, Access and Land Hidden Game-Changing Career Opportunities Everywhere.” It’s currently for sale on Amazon.com, and it’s already run out of print copies. The publisher, Wiley-Blackwell, has had to order a second printing.
Alaina is a woman who really believes in the power of networking, which goes without saying. But she realized the need for a book about the topic after getting a job at a university.
“I was directing a master’s program that combined science and business at the University of Arizona,” she tells us over email. “My job was to get my students jobs, so I was constantly networking with industry representatives to learn what they were looking for in employees. At the same time, I would go back to my students to help them prepare for their careers and I realized that these talented students in science were never taught the fundamentals of networking and other aspects of career exploration and planning, unlike business students who learn how to network and why it is critical for success on day one of business school.”
Advice she likes to hand out includes the directive that people shouldn’t be too shy to capitalize on any networking opportunity, even if you’re sitting on a plane next to somebody.
So how did this freelance writer and speaker get to become a self-proclaimed networking expert?
It all started in a very well-organized way, actually. As she was growing up in New Jersey, she found out early on what she liked doing. She was always into science, business, performing and communication. She was able to appreciate her passion for business and marketing after a stint at the University of Arizona.
After university, she strove to combine all four of these great interests into a viable career, and so Quantum Success Solutions was born in 2004. This company is a career-consulting, freelance-writing and professional-speaking business. Interestingly, Alaina built up this company and her freelance work on the side, while still being employed by the University of Arizona from 1997 to 2009 in various consulting, directing and communications positions.
Of course, in the years since, she’s been able to built up her business full-time. Somewhat unsurprisingly and suitably, her book came about as the direct result of a networking situation. Talk about walking the walk and also talking the talk!
Alaina worked hard to be her own boss and knows that it comes with certain perks—and drawbacks!
She says, “The best part [of being my own boss] is the diversity of projects and colleagues I have all over the world, in different fields, sectors, and regions. I love that I get to pick my own projects and I love that one day I could be writing an article about the microbes under the sea and the next I am speaking about networking and other career related topics for 500 scientists at a conference.”
And the hard part? “Deciding which avenue or project I want to peruse!”
Rewind to 2011, and Alaina was searching for useful sources for a science story she was writing as a freelancer. She eventually got in touch with somebody at Wiley-Blackwell, her current publisher, who assisted her with that story. The two stayed in touch and worked together for the next year, after which time Alaina pitched her book idea. It only took her a couple of hours to write the book proposal, and she signed a contract with the publisher in late 2012.
Just goes to show you how you can virtually take any opportunity and turn that into a networking success!
One last thing that she wants people to remember is not to be turned off or discouraged about having to network with people who are in a more senior position or more successful than they are. Her advice to get over this initial feeling of discomfort is to be reminded of the fact that these people typically need you as much as you need them, so it’ll still be a two-way street!
She also keeps a pretty jam-packed schedule and always has lots of things going on because, as she says, she’s a “global brand.” With tongue in cheek, she says she only has some spare time to herself at about 3 am every other Saturday morning.
So what’s next for this extremely busy woman?
“I speak extensively, so I am about to go on the road again this fall for workshops and speeches on professional development and advancement at a number of conferences and for organizations and universities,” she says. “This is in addition to press tours for my book! I continue writing 2 career columns, one for Physics Today and one for APS News, the international publication of the American Physical Society, and I freelance for lots of magazines, including Science and Nature, so that work continues too.”
Alaina demonstrates how people today can become sought-after and successful not just by networking, but by taking chances and reaching out to others even in unlikely situations. Since you never know what could happen if you strike up a relationship, it always pays to network—especially if you’re a freelancer.
What is the best relationship you have developed through networking? Share with us in the comments below.
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