As a professional, you have probably faced the following situation: you have a specific need, and you realize that you actually do not know anyone that could help you; emergency and hurry probably led you to hire or ask for help from someone without references. There is a solution to prevent bad decisions in those moments: networking.
As the Cobuild Advanced English Dictionary says, networking is the process of trying to meet new people who might be useful to you in your job, often through social activities.
What does it mean? It means you need to create a list of people from different expertise areas to develop a net that would help you when you need it. As with every social skill, it needs to be trained, and you have to improve your social relations with every person around you, mainly the ones connected to the business world. There are three different types: