Everybody talks about the benefits of networking — how it can help you build connections in your professional community, locate business leads — even find a new job.
I’ve found that an even bigger benefit of networking is that it helps me answer questions.
Browsing through my Rolodex (or my LinkedIn connections), I find I can answer just about any question that comes up in my workday. For example:

• I turned to architecture-writer Bethany Meisinger-Reiff recently when I needed help writing a profile on the construction of a new dental facility — a type of writing I’d never quite done before.
• I called social media buff David Bowman when I was giving a presentation on writing for the web and wanted to recommend a firm in the Dayton-Cincinnati region that specialized in search engine optimization.
• I call in one of Dragonfly’s senior writers, Jim McDermott, every time I write a marketing communications piece, like a capabilities brochure or a sales flyer. I won’t put anything in front of a client before it has Jim’s blessing. His comments inevitably make a piece stronger and help me refine my articulation of client features and customer benefits.
• I called Duane Landes at Dayton’s Exhibit Concepts recently when I was asked to write a script for a tradeshow booth. I wanted Duane’s 2 cents on how to best present information in that kind of a 2-seconds-walking-past-a-monitor-and-they’re-gone environment.
• I even have colleagues who I occasionally query about pricing. Susan Rose at Two Sisters Creative and Mary Cvetan at Cvetan Communications have been long-time helpers in this regard.

Of course, turnabout is fair play — meaning I find myself with equal frequency answering questions that come to me from colleagues in my network. And I’m free with my information. ‘Cause that’s what networking is all about.
Wanna network? Use the comments feature to ask your question or write me at sam@dragonflyeditorial.com.