Hello.
We all know that networking
and meeting the right people can help us
not only socially and to get us out of the house
but also business wise and career wise.
Meeting interesting people that will make us more well rounded individuals.
Networking can be a little bit tricky sometimes.
You have to network without network.
These are some of my tips for how to do just that.
Don't try to make a meaningful relationship overnight.
So many people want to meet this amazing person
and just be like this instantaneously.
That doesn't really happen that often.
And I think that if you focus on actually creating
long term relationships with people
then you will find that to be a lot more beneficial.
Establish relationships with a core group of people
that you're interested in, and be patient.
I think that it's better to have a small group of people
and develop that relationship over time.
Find events to go to and be a part of.
I'm actually going to have my friend Roberto Blake
who is an entrepreneur and so good at networking
and meeting the right people,
to talk to you a little bit about this one.
You've been to a lot, you go to events,
like you're barely ever here.
Really important to try to get to these A list events
you can do this by volunteering if you can't get it on the invite list.
These events are always looking for volunteers.
Absolutely. I think that's how I actually met Shonduras.
He was on a panel with a lot of other social media people
and I kept asking very interesting questions.
Now this is an event that was called Dig South.
And I wasn't there as a speaker yet
I just started the beginnings of my speaking career.
By being at events, even as a volunteer,
you can build relationships and friendships with people
in a place where maybe
like other people don't necessarily even know or respect who they are,
who they're going to be.
And I would encourage you to look at local events
in your community in the area.
And if you can't go to an A or a B list event
and you can't get there even as a volunteer,
and I really think you can probably.
I would encourage you to even try
to put together a small local event at your local library or community center
for people like you that share your interest
and maybe you come up and you grow together.
And there's always people who are looking to connect with other people,
and you know, you've got a bunch of websites
where you can make that happen.
I also think it's about being educated
and going to a place where you're not smartest person the room.
I go to events because I want to learn from people like Shonduras
or Gary Vee or Peter McKinnon or whoever
or people I haven't even heard of.
There are people that are even like they're small right now
relatively speaking, or what the industry will consider small
but who are they going to be five years from now.
Even the worst events that I've ever been to,
I've always gotten something out of it.
You're gonna get out of it what you're gonna get out of it,
it's all up to you.
So, if you go there with a mindset to connect with people
to make meaningful relationships then that's what you're gonna get out of it.
I recommend you look at a book by my friend Tyler Wagner
called Conference Crushing.
This book definitively changed how I approached events,
being very intentional on building relationships
and also taught me the importance of following up with people after an event
and maintaining a relationship.
So, I would definitely recommend that one.
And now we're going to the next point.
Stop explicitly asking for things.
If you just show up in somebody's life
and just keep asking them for stuff
and you are creating a business transaction and not a relationship.
You don't want to make the relationship seem like a business transaction,
you should ask these people questions about themselves,
get to know them, what are their interests?
What are their dislikes?
By doing this you get to create a rapport with people,
you'll be able to learn about them
and what they do in detail.
If they are in a group of people
or they start talking about something that you don't quite understand
or don't know anything about
then don't hesitate to ask.
It's OK to not know everything.
Being able to open yourself up
and show that you are vulnerable to these people
makes you more human.
I know it's really weird to talk about this
but so many people create networking
like this separate thing, it's a separate entity
that has nothing to do with building relationships
when it couldn't be further from the truth.
And I think that if you open yourself up
and don't pretend like you know everything,
you'll be more interesting too.
In the same way that you love to teach someone
about something that you know,
something that you are so passionate about,
other people like to do that too.
So, grant them the opportunity.
That also shows your interest not only in the subject
but in the person themselves
because you want to hear them talk about something
that they are passionate or knowledgeable about.
If there is something specific that you would like from that person,
you have to really analyze
and see one is the right time to ask.
Being the type of person who only shows up
when you need something, is not going to help you.
For this next tip I'm gonna bring in my friend Audrey.
Don't compromise.
Just because you feel like you have to get to know a person
because they're in your industry but you don't like them,
don't, don't, don't...
-Don't force yourself. -Don't force yourself to like...
Especially now with the Internet, you're able to meet so many cool people
that are in your industry,
you don't have to hang around someone you don't like
just because you feel like they're gonna be influential
or they're gonna help you or they're gonna benefit you in some way.
There are other people out there
that you might genuinely enjoy hanging out with
who are also in your industry, like this person.
-This is Audrey -Hello.
And she makes videos on YouTube
and she does things create things on the Internet
and I genuinely enjoy being with her.
So, that's an example of that.
I think like especially with numbers and stuff,
sometimes people just want to hang out
or want to make content with them
because of maybe followers or influence whatever.
But if you don't have like chemistry with someone.
If it's just not working, it'll come across on camera.
-Yeah. -And that just isn't good.
And it just it's not gonna work out.
So make sure you're making videos with people that you can have fun with
because that's like the whole point, right?
And I'm back.
I changed clothes like three times during this video.
I hope that you learned something about networking and relationships with this.
If you want to see more videos like this then please let me know.
And if you have any tips that I didn't bring up in this video
then tell me in the comments.
I'm a huge geek and a huge homebody.
When the conversation goes out of the geek spectrum
of what I'm interested in,
it's a lot harder for me to talk to people and get to know them.
So, if you have any tips like that then share them
because I'm sure if I'm not learning from it
then somebody else who reads the comments will be learning.
This is a community here.
We are networking online.
I hope this video was entertaining as well.
If you guys enjoyed hearing from Roberto and Audrey,
then please go check them out, they have awesome channels.
Links, information, everything, you know it's always in the description.
Please follow me, subscribe, like, share,
all the things, all the validation that I need from the Internet.
If you guys do enjoy my content then give me a follow.
I like to hang out on Twitter and Instagram and stuff.
And I like to get to know you guys.
For now I am going to go.
So, I will see you when I see you, bye!
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