LOUISE LAFFEY

Tune into your natural networking style

Louise had always known that her life would not be ordinary but she could never have predicted that it would be so extraordinary!

As a senior commercial manager at Telstra, Louise had already taken many twists and turns in her career. After graduating from the University of NSW with degrees in Commerce and Law, she had worked successfully as a commercial lawyer for the first 8 years of her career.

Louise decided to make the switch into the commercial world after completing her MBA. It was at this point in her career that she really started to evaluate the way that she wanted to do business. Having a great mentor was key to Louise and it was this mentor that introduced her to Xplore.

Coming from a legal background, Louise had maintained a tight network within her industry, even from her university days. Now in a different industry and needing to create new networking opportunities, she was unsure if her efforts were paying off.

Louise embarked on the Senior Career Resiliency program with Xplore and soon arrived at the turning point that she had been seeking. Rather than just attending networking events and handing out business cards, she learned that the starting point to effective networking was to tune in to your own natural style.

Louise began learning about her own natural networking style. She felt a big shift away from the "what can I do for you?/what can you do for me?" attitude, something that she thinks is quite a male view. Instead choosing to think "how can I help my group?/how can you help them too?" which she sees as more of a natural female style of approaching situations.

During this program with Xplore, which Louise says was "undoubtedly the best professional training course (non degree) I have ever completed!", she started to live and breathe the 'Xplore Philosophy' as she calls it - connecting people through your connections.

"...if you feel comfortable with the people you meet then anything is possible"

Louise believes that if you feel comfortable with the people you meet then anything is possible. If you like each other and get on you are more likely to have meaningful interactions, rather than deliberately forcing relationships to get what you want. It is a much more authentic way to approach business functions and is more valuable to your career.

Louise found her career in the following twelve months flourish and she reached a director level position. She was able to relate to people in a more relaxed manner and this way of making natural connections had made her network "go through the roof!". She also felt she was enjoying her job more with the style she had found that suited her.

Thinking back to the Xplore program, Louise recalls that although she got on well with her program group she didn't need to rely upon them as a support group. "Di never encouraged us to have forced connections" this is something that Louise thinks sets Xplore apart, "it was more about finding your natural fit".

Louise would encourage anyone to look outside of their immediate industry for new connections. Even if you change industries during your career, don't think that you have to leave those connections behind. If you consider them to be friends you don't lose people, you just keep adding!

In 2007, Louise made a commitment to herself to live her happiest life and by opening up to the infinite possibilities that life had to offer, embraced the opportunity to start her own business. Early one morning she was awoken by a thought of 'this is a big idea! '. Having already developed her clairaudient abilities years before, she knew better than to ignore this message. In the months that followed, she downloaded pieces of a puzzle that would soon become part of her life's work: a personal transformational game called The Wish®.

"...opening yourself up to a global network of women can be incredibly rewarding"

Louise's natural networking style has enabled her to take The Wish® to the world stage. Having genuine interactions will have a longer term effect on her business, especially in her new industry where trust is vital. As well as looking outside of your industry, sometimes your own city or country can become small, so opening yourself up to a global network of women can be incredibly rewarding.

At a trade show in Melbourne, Louise played The Wish® game with some new connections she'd met. It turned out that they had some overlapping connections and all 'got on like a house on fire'. This chance meeting has opened up some new doors for Louise, right across the world to the US and she is now only a few connections away from Louise Hay of Hay House publishing fame, whom Louise admires and hopes to meet one day.

This is the potential power of your network if you nurture the great relationships you have. Louise is grateful for the relationships she has with some great women around the world that all have one thing in common - wanting to help each other out by offering advice and recommendations.

Recently this global reach extended to the UK for Louise when she took The Wish® there. She had a connection in Australia who knew people in the UK that Louise would connect with. She followed up, got on famously with these ladies and came away with over 100 really good leads out of a room of 25 women in the UK. Fantastic success!

Louise's wish is to help others to make their wishes come true! Find out more about The Wish® at www.thewish8.com

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