Anything Goes : Networking intent by Patrick Freeman

Do people have any specific intent when sending networking requests or are these just shotgun approaches? I've gotten some requests from all over the world - some of them seem to be pitching a service. I certainly don't mind and it's no big deal but since I live near LA I can pretty much find anything local that I need here. For example, it's not likely that I'm going to exhaust every casting option locally and need to go to, say Bulgaria to find someone to act in an indie film.