I kind of found my footing when it came to networking in early ’06, before I quit my full-time job and started freelancing later that year, and actually found that it went hand-in-hand with what I was trying to do, which was strike out on my own. As I got further into it, I got better at networking.

I’ve since considered it one of my freelancing strengths that I’ve been able to “network” with people, using the parlance that so many others prefer, while not feeling like I’m actively networking.

Since I feel like I have a tough time relating what works for me to others, since that would directly correlate to how they would run a business consisting of “me”, I’ll instead provide a couple tips that I’ve picked up which will hopefully help. The first is an old standby that I actively think about, while the others I’ve really just tried to formulate here and now.

1. You can be far more effective taking interest in two or three people than in trying to make ten or fifteen people be interested in you. Ask questions; find out what they are trying to do. It might work out that you are in a position to help them in those goals, or at the very least introduce them to someone else in whom you’ve taken an interest who could help them along. In other words, take interest and be a connector. It will pan out in the end. People like to talk about themselves, so if you take an interest, you will leave a favorable impression of yourself on them. I don’t know how many times I’ve connected two people who end up working together. Some of those relationships have come back around into gigs or long-term work; the rest just haven’t… yet.

2. Try to talk about your projects, as often as you do at least, in terms of problems that you’ve solved or attempted to solve that are common across projects, or types of work, or people. For example, problems like making technical tools and processes available to non-technical people. I find this kind of thing when it comes to web content all the time. Maybe not applicable in your case, but you can share commonalities with someone who, say, is trying to build an iPhone app for a non-technical profession. Commence talking about the shared challenges.

3. Seek out others who don’t appear to be networking or wanting to network. Even if you don’t end up talking shop, you can talk about what else brought you there (the travel, visiting a friend while on the trip, getting away from the normal grind of not attending conferences, etc.) Everyone likes to talk about something if you dig a bit.

Hope these help. In the end, you really have to find what works for you, but I think it’s crucial to a solo shop, even if you are moonlighting in addition to a full-time job, to be able to network. I actively try to avoid the business card exchanging scene, or the drink-buying scene, or the project boasting scene. Just find what works for you while letting you be you.