How to connect with BP members in my area without getting blocked for spamming?

[Shera Gregory]

I did a search for members in my area and found a total of 13. I wanted to send a colleague request to those folks. I was able to send two (or maybe three) but on the next attempt I was blocked for spamming. I understand, and appreciate!, the effort to keep the site free of spam. So my question is .. how do I network with people in my area if I can't send several individual colleague requests? Or do I just wait and do another batch of two or three over the next couple of days?