That used to be my credo for networking.

I’d go to an event and tell myself, “You just have to stay for 15 minutes and talk to one person.” Then I’d almost hyperventilate and walk into the bar, meeting room or classroom. I’d hang out by the sign-in desk, hoping someone would talk to me. I’d hang out by the snacks, hoping someone would talk to me. I’d stand on the edges of the crowd, trying to not look like the only person in the room who didn’t already know everyone. And then I’d spot someone else also standing alone and either inch or make a beeline for him or her depending on how desperate I was feeling.

It took an enormous amount of effort, but finally I’d open my mouth and say, “Hi.”

“Hi.” Stalled silence.

Finally, “So, what do you do?” A round of introductions, names and positions and then more silence.

“Um, it was nice meeting you.” And then I’d flee. Half happy (I spoke to someone new!) half judgmental (why didn’t you talk to more people?!). Sometimes the whole ritual took more like 30 minutes, sometimes less.

As I mastered more networking and conversational tools and inoculated myself against shyness by repeated exposure to friendly strangers that did not bite or turn their backs on me, networking got easier and eventually enjoyable and yielded results.

And now I’m subjecting myself to this ritual all over again.

Yes, I’ve set myself up for another 15 minutes of agony every day: cold calling.

The recession’s finally catching up with me and I need to move out of my comfort zone and try new things to get new clients. (Actually I should have been doing this all along, but that’s a different post.)

Now I practice my script in my head, look at the clock, try not to hyperventilate and dial on skype. Fifteen minutes of agony. Three busy signals, one wrong number, two answering machines and two live people later I’m done. One resume sent. Not bad for 15 minutes.

Will anything come of the one resume? Who knows? I’ll follow up next week. But I kept my promise to myself and I’m that much closer to cold calling being old hat. From my networking experience I know it will get better. Eventually. I swear.

So what do you need to do for 15 minutes?