We've not yet Succeeded

[Willow Yang Liuqing]

Today I've begun my second week of internship but things seem progress much slower than I expected, which makes me a little bit frustrated.

Recently, Cabrini is hosting a Golf Benefit to raise its fund for next month as well as to provide a chance for people from different areas learn about our organization's aim. As it is the first big fund-raising event during my internship, I really want to do as much as I can to help the event run smoothly. On the second day of our work, Dan recommended Jenny and I to create our capacity and connection map in order to give ourselves and other staff a clear idea in which area we can contribute to. However, as college students, we have so little beneficial connections, needless to say most of them are not in Chicago. I emailed to my golf coach at school who lived in the States for over 30 years but he replied me with a pity saying he has no friend who lives in town. I emailed to all of the group members who also intern in Chicago this summer ask if they could pass our message to their supervisors, but no positive reply has been received yet.

A quote of lyric came to my mind " We've not yet succeeded. We've done what we can but no one has answered to our call（我们仍然未得胜，能做已做，无人响应）". Then, I began to think of a video on youtube Dan shared few days ago talking about whether it is possible that we build effective networks through internet. It agrees for no doubt that people can reach each other much more easier than ever before, but this also leaves a problem that the interpersonal relationships may not be as strong. The convenience of internet makes people overwhelmed in communication. In that case, some people choose to self-handicap, looking without seeing, hearing without listening. See how easy it is to share ideas on blogs, but there are still millions of blogs leaving semi-anonymous on the internet.

Nevertheless, this does NOT mean I should give up so quickly. Building effective connections via internet is the trend. It is only the way how we use it really matters. And I think this is also what I need to figure out in the past few weeks, say how to find effective connections and link them to CC T/MC. We've not yet succeeded, but eventually we will. In the same song I've quote before, there is also a sentence following illustrating my faith now.

"Since virtual things is sure win, even if it is hard, we also will try. （既然仁慈是必胜，难亦要念，难念的经）"

[Daniel Bassill]

Willow,

I'd like to see you and Jenny develop a press release, showing your involvement with Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. Let me review it. Then look for media in Chicago, and China, that you can send it to, suggesting an interview with you and Jenny. If you can get this sent to 20 or 30 media outlets, maybe one or more will do a story. That will help draw readers to our blogs and event web sites.

[Willow Yang Liuqing]

Thanks Dan and Bradley, I'll keep trying! plz let me know if you think of sth that I can help with~

[Liu Chong]

I like "Since virtual things is sure win, even if it is hard, we also will try. " something we persist in is depend on our faith.

[Daniel Bassill]

Well said, Bradley. I encourage you all to take a look at this Mention Map and see how it visualizes your network on Twitter. http://apps.asterisq.com/mentionmap/#user-tutormentorteam

It's another tool to use in finding the person who is three people removed from you, but who could be the one person to make a difference in the future of Cabrini Connections and the kids we work with.

[Bradley Troast]

Great blog post! Very honest.

I know that networking can seem tough when you're a young person (I graduated from college last year.), but remember what you said last week about an individuals' connection network. It's not always about who you know; it's also about who they know. I don't work at a big corporation with a charitable giving foundation, but a lot of our volunteers do... some of my friends do... some of my extended family members do.

You just need to be persistent and consistent. Sometimes I also wonder, "Who is actually reading this?" when I write a blog post, but I can look at Google Analytics and see that more than 300 people view my blog every month. If just one of those people takes something away from what I say and uses it to spread our message, it's worth it. The best connections I've made were unexpected ones. Stick with it! You will succeed!

[Daniel Bassill]

You're right. Network building takes time, and persistence. I encourage you to review this pdf from the May 2010 conference. It shows how I've built a strong relationship with Charles Cameron, who I first met in the Social Edge forum several years ago. We had never met until he came to the conference.

Now if you visit this link, you'll see how Charles has taken our discussion back to Social Edge, where he is introducing people he knows to the work we are doing.

Some people might respond to a request for help, the first time they are asked, because of their trust in the person making the request. Others may take many years of repeated exposure to the cause before they take an interest. As long as we can end each day knowing how many people in our network we've touched, we can feel good about what we've done.