When I started networking for my scrapbooking business, the idea of “it’s not what you know, but who you know” really came into focus.

I realized if I networked for my love life, I might go on a few dates. I let my friends know I was ready for introductions and then I waited. And waited. And waited. My friends’ dating antennaes were down; some were broken.

Fast forward a few years. I’m now married and directing networking activities at the corporate office of PowerCore, a referral marketing company. I meet a lot of people through my work and one day my dating antenna went up for my sister. Big mistake.

My sister, although “in the market” (she is single), wasn’t “on the market” (looking to find someone). I went full steam ahead setting up introductions without considering what type of mate she would be interested in, or how the set-up should be made.

When my sister asked me to stop, I insisted that she was wrong. Mistake number two.

When the dust settled from the squabble, my sister laid a few ground rules. It was then I realized that if my sister and I had a tool such as My Sister’s Black Book I never would have landed in the dog house in the first place. And she might have met a few interesting men.