A long time ago when I was a new working mother, I read everything I could find on work-life balance. I ran across one piece of advice that I have taken to heart and practice like a religion.

Schedule and reach out to your VIPs once a month

Make a list of the people you wanted to keep in contact with and put them into your calendar and reach out to them once a month (or more depending upon the relationship!) This may sound calculating but as busy professionals there is always another project or deadline that is going to push our networking time to the side.

I do this as a career success strategy and also for the sake of work-life balance. The connections those calls and coffee breaks maintained have blossomed into great friendships and a stealthy second sales team for my business.