I have a confession to make. I used to hate networking.
My firm would regularly send me to business events and I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do. Put me in front of 250 people with a lectern, a laptop and a PowerPoint presentation and I wouldn't bat an eyelid. Ask me to walk into a room full of strangers, coffee in hand, and strike up conversations... that was an entirely different challenge.
Then I started my own consultancy.
It didn't take long to realise that clients don't magically appear because you've got a good website or an active LinkedIn profile. If nobody knows who you are, they're unlikely to buy from you. Reluctantly, I took the plunge and, to my surprise, discovered that I actually enjoyed networking.