Sparklers Light Neighborhood & New Friendships?

You would not believe how many people I work with that say they not only have a hard time meeting new people for their network but barely (if at all) know the people that they call their neighbors. How sad is that? Sad but an unfortunate reality of our time.

There was a time when all neighbors knew what everyone else was up to. The next door neighbor became surrogate parents to their neighbor's kids and vice versa. Everyone said good morning when they left for work and people got together for morning coffee, afternoon barbeques and looked out for one another. There was a general feeling of caring back in the day.

What happened?

Neighborhoods lost their mojo. More families broke up. People started becoming less social. Neighbors suddenly became people you gave the occasional nod to while mowing the lawn but you couldn't recall the name of their kids much less their dog.

Your neighbors represent a significant first step in helping you expand your personal and professional network. So how do you get to know a neighbor that you don't know that well?

Here are some suggestions to try out tomorrow....The Fourth of July!

• Invite your neighbors to a good old fashioned home made ice cream social
• Throw a BBQ (or better yet....schedule a BBQ competition & neighborhood potluck)
• Ask your neighbor over for a beer
• Buy or make some July 4th cup cakes and take them over to your neighbor just because
• Buy a whole bunch of sparklers and distribute them to all the neighbors with instructions to stand outside at a specific time and salute this great country together as neighbors
• Just do something that gives you a reason to open that mouth and say something; perhaps and this is only a suggestions...use some of the Ripple Connection Questions you have read in this BLOG. Hmmm....sounds like a plan doesn't it? (SMILE!)

Your neighbors represent a significant opportunity to grow your personal and professional network of people. They are the most readily available and accessible so why not take the initiative and reach out?

The Fourth of July when everyone here in America celebrates for one day our country's independence is a great opportunity to create a little bang with your connecting fireworks and see what pretty colors and opportunities come from it. Just think of the Ripples you might create!

Happy Fourth of July to you and yours!!!

Ripple On!!!

Steve